Beasts Royal

by Patrick O'Brian

  She flew low over the long grass, and started a jacksnipe, which shot away, corkscrewing and turning in its own inimitable manner. The falcon caught the snipe when it tried to double, and ate it on the ground.

  She flew back slowly towards the eyrie. When she came near enough she heard the tiercel shrieking and calling harshly.

  Hastening her pace the peregrine approached the nest from the sea. She saw a man taking her eggs.

  He was an oölogist, a great enemy of birds, who had seen her stretching her wings earlier in the day.

  He had lowered himself over the cliff from a rope tied to a tree, and had fastened a safety line round his waist.

  The tiercel had not been able to save the eggs, which the collector had just put for safety in his mouth. The mother falcon stooped at the man’s head with great force, knocking his thick cloth cap off, and wheeling again for another attack.

  The man turned pale, he had not thought it serious enough a matter to hire a helper, and he was alone. The tiercel flapped furiously about his head, and the oölogist was too busy keeping the terrible talons from his eyes to climb to safety.

  The tiercel drew off for a moment, and the oölogist quickly replaced one egg, thinking to distract the parent’s attention, and he started climbing.

  He had not hauled himself a dozen feet, however, before the mother, who had mounted to a great height, stooped. The man’s hands were holding on to the rope, so she caught him full in the face.

  With a shriek he lost his hold and fell, the thin safety rope snapped, and he fell to the rocks below.

  The out-going tide washed him out to sea.

  SKOGULA

  III

  Skogula – The Sperm Whale

  In the warm seas where squids, octopi, and the like flourish and grow fat, a large school of sperm whales were feeding. Deep down near the sea-bed Skogula, a young bull whale, was pursuing a squid, which, having exhausted all its sepia, was now shooting backwards by means of its long arms, which it used like oars. The whale caught it, and rising to the surface he swallowed it with every sign of enjoyment. He dived again, and swimming along just a few fathoms above the bottom, he looked out for food, but as he was swimming along rather a cold current he could not find any. So after a while he changed his course and swam towards a rocky place where the sea-bed sloped suddenly upwards. Locating an octopus he made for it. His quarry, however, saw him and ejected a black cloud, disappearing into the ripped-up side of a sunken ocean-going tramp lying on the sea-bed under many fathoms of water. The decks harboured hundreds of crabs and shellfish which had come for the dead bodies of the crew years before, and because of the great quantities of crabs, the octopi lived both in and around the ship in great numbers.

  As the whale passed a few feet above the deck, looking for the octopus, the skeleton of a man lashed to the wheel shifted in the current, and the skull rolled down the sloping deck, dislodging some crabs who lived inside. As the crabs came out the whale saw the whip-like tentacle of the octopus shoot out after them from the broken window of the charthouse.

  The whale swam down and seized the tentacle, hoping to drag the octopus out by it, but the arm snapped off short, so he rose to the surface and spouted several times. He could see the rest of the school of whales lying awash a short distance away.

  Just then his mother rose near him, finishing a squid. She was one of the seven wives of the leader of the school. Her husband was a great bull in his prime, fully sixty feet long, who ruled the school with a rod of iron, or rather with his ten-foot ivory-clad under-jaw, with which he had fought his way to the head of the school (in his youth) and had held that position ever since.

  Like the other whales, Skogula’s mother was looking rather anxious, and he wondered why, for he did not know, as the others did, that his father had decided that the school should migrate farther south.

  Skogula’s mother was particularly worried, for she knew that he would have to swim with the school for long distances and the pace set by his father, as there were no young calves in the school at the time, would be quite fast. She did not know whether Skogula would be able to stand it.

  But he continued ignorant until the next morning, when his father swam right round the school, then he sounded and coming up again at a great pace, he leapt clear of the water and, with a great splash, took up his place at the head of the school and started off southwards.

  For a long time they swam steadily, rising to spout every few minutes, until the leader heard, very far off the cry: ‘There she blows!’ He could not see the ship, being unable to see far in air, but he knew the cry, having been harpooned once. He was very much alarmed, as Skogula could see, and began to take in vast quantities of air, spouting noisily.

  The whaler was lowering boats; Skogula could just hear the sound of men rowing them, and a moment later his father dived, showing his great tail for a second before he disappeared; the rest of the school followed him and they all sank to a great depth.

  After some time had passed, Skogula felt in need of air, and wondered when his father would go up to the surface. But the leader did not rise, so Skogula left the school, meaning to catch them up later, and rose to the surface.

  He emerged near one of the boats, and spouted at once. He did not see the boat as it was behind him. As he was spouting the mate in charge of the boat edged it close enough, and the harpooner seized his first harpoon and stood up in the bows. He was poised for the cast when a clumsy hand at tub oar fouled the whale rope. This spoilt the harpooner’s cast, and his iron, which lodged just above Skogula’s left fin, had no force in it. Then the whale dived.

  The harpooner darted an angry glance at the clumsy hand, and seized the second harpoon, which was lashed to the first by only a short length of rope; he threw it overboard, as the whale was already under the surface.

  The second harpoon, however, went skimming along over the water, following Skogula’s blind rush, and it foul-hooked a second boat, engaging firmly in its side. The boat swung round, but the barb held fast, so that the first harpoon tore out of Skogula’s side.

  Meanwhile the school had risen some distance away, and Skogula, when he had calmed down a little, went towards them and found that he had not been missed by the others. Meanwhile the boats were returning to the ship, as a dense fog had risen.

  But from that day on, Skogula never trusted boats again. The school only rested for a few hours before the leader ploughed on again, and by nightfall they were a great way from the old feeding grounds. For a long time the whales continued in this way, sometimes passing ships from which their leader always hurried them away at a great pace, and they were never attacked. In time Skogula lost a lot of his extra fat, and drew on his blubber reserves.

  At last, after a longer swim than usual, the leader stopped, for Skogula’s father knew this place very well, having led the school there more times than he could count, for he had been born there.

  Skogula lay awash for some time before he began to look around, as he was very tired. Then he raised himself a little higher out of the water so that he could see that he was in a sort of deep lagoon which was bounded on his left by a crescent of tiny islands. These extended in a serrated half moon to meet another crescent formed of white rock, stretching from a slightly larger island which had a little vegetation.

  The islands were too small to support any men or animals other than a few seals, sea-elephants, manatees, and dugongs, who lived on the fish which abounded there.

  But birds lived there in thousands; on the main island legions of penguins waddled about, and myriads of gulls dwelt on the smaller rocky islands.

  Besides the gulls, there were also frigate birds, boobies, solans, albatrosses, swallow terns, albacores, and many others, including one old fishing eagle, blown there from the north in a great wind.

  Skogula found that there was excellent food to be had in the lagoon, where the squids grew to a much larger size than those which he had found in the old feeding ground.

&nbs
p; But he was disappointed to find that the octopi were no better than those which he had eaten before, though he was glad to find that there were more of them.

  A long time passed while the school lived in the lagoon, feeding well and growing fat and contented.

  Skogula was dozing at the surface, digesting an unusually large dinner of squids, one day, when a small school of sperm whales approached the lagoon. They were led by a remarkably large young bull, who made for the main entrance of the lagoon.

  Skogula’s father saw him and swam out to meet him, circling round in a large sweep; these tactics puzzled the newcomer, who soon laid himself open to a side attack. As he did not turn quickly enough, the older bull charged at once, tearing a piece of blubber from the other’s side.

  Then Skogula’s father dived and attacked the newcomer from the other side. Soon the water around the younger bull grew pink, and sharks approached from all sides. After a little time, however, the newcomer managed to get face to face with his antagonist, and in a moment their great jaws were interlocked. After a while they broke away, and the newcomer managed to get a hold on his enemy’s left fin, crushing and crippling it.

  Skogula’s father creamed the water all round with the lashing of his tail, and then he charged forward again, and the fight continued furiously. After a lot of ineffectual butting, the whales got their jaws interlocked again, and they raged up and down until they passed beyond Skogula’s sight; but he could trace their path by the movements of the dense cloud of hoarsely screaming gulls, who followed them, but soon he lost sight of even the gulls, though he could hear the whales beating the water into foam a great way off.

  Some time later the younger bull returned alone to the lagoon, though he was badly wounded in a score of places. Skogula never saw his father again. He might have been killed, but that was not likely. He had probably been badly beaten and, if so, he would go away from the school for ever up to the northern seas.

  Of course, the victorious survivor took over the command of both schools, which soon merged into one large one, and under his leadership they followed just where his fancy prompted him.

  The whales had gone great distances before under their old leader, but now they went even farther afield, never resting in the same place for more than a week. Skogula had fed in the Indian Ocean in one month and off Zanzibar in the next.

  But before a great time had passed, Skogula began to notice that the new leader was not nearly so pleasant as his father had been; he was bad tempered and loved to bully the younger whales, who all came to avoid him as much as they could.

  Once, as Skogula was pursuing an octopus near St. Helena, the leader snapped it up in front of his nose. This was an insult, but Skogula thought that it would be unwise to attack the aggressor, as he would not have a chance and would only be hurt and driven from the school, so he turned aside to look for another meal.

  This occurred again on the next day and the next, until at last Skogula grew quite used to it. A long time passed, during which time the whales had gone a great distance. But as they did not travel in any kind of formation as they did under Skogula’s father, some of the smaller cows and calves were eaten by sharks.

  Two of the larger bulls who had swum far from the rest were also attacked by giant swordfish, and one was killed. Skogula was once attacked by three of them when he was feeding. They attacked from below, trying to thrust their swords into his soft underparts, and he was forced to leap clear of the water to avoid them.

  As he came down, he lashed out furiously, and by a lucky stroke managed to hit one of them on the side of the head with his tail, killing it at once.

  Meanwhile the other two were attacking him from the front. One charged at his head, and the other attacked him from the side; the first merely bounced off, but the other buried his sword just above his right fin, and Skogula spouted dark red blood. His temper was now fully aroused, and for the first time, using his full strength, he lashed with his tail hard enough to blind his enemies, and then turning, he bit one right through the middle of the body and the sharks who were waiting all around tore the wounded swordfish into fragments. The survivor was now joined by another swordfish, and they harassed Skogula from behind, but the whale whipped round with astonishing agility. He snapped furiously at them, but missed, and was forced to leap into the air again, for they had got underneath him. On coming down, he dived deep with the fish in full pursuit.

  Skogula had taken in enough air to stay down for a long time, so he went very deep, and at last the swordfish gave it up. Skogula was badly hurt, and as he swam back to the school he felt at least three places in his tail where the swords had gone right through. It took him a long time to recover, but when he did, he knew as much about fighting swordfish as any whale, for he had thought out, in a dim way, defensive tactics for the future.

  He was able to put the plans into execution before long, as he was attacked by five very large swordfish when some distance south of the Cape. He took his opponents quite by surprise, killed two, and chased the others for a long way.

  After his victory over the swordfish Skogula began to realize his strength, and he started to look rather strangely at his leader when that whale took away his food; and his thoughts turned towards the possibilities of challenging the tyrant, defeating him, and taking command over the school. In his imagination he saw himself the leader of the largest school in the sea, holding undisputed sway over all their doings.

  At length the whales began to move eastwards until, after many months, they were lying some distance off the coast of Brazil. On the way they had lost three big bulls and one cow, all four taken by whalers.

  By this time Skogula had reached the length of fifty-nine feet, and was still growing, and the leader had long ceased to take away his food.

  After a few days the school began to go northward, and soon they encountered a current of water that was nearly fresh; it came from the Amazon, and the whales found it very difficult to swim in.

  Skogula thought he must be ill as he lurched and rolled, almost losing control in the unsupporting water. This was not at all to the liking of the leader, who soon turned south again.

  During the last few months, Skogula had become increasingly friendly with an attractive young cow called Miska. He had seen her first when looking for cuttlefish, and had felt attracted to her from the first, and she liked him quite well.

  When the sea was all phosphorescent, as it often was, they used to chase each other, lobtailing and leaping out of the water as all the whales used to do in pairs, but only at night when the water splashed up like liquid fire.

  But as the school was nearing Cape Horn the leader began to take such notice of Miska that Skogula began to feel quite uneasy.

  By the time the whales had reached a good feeding-place off the Falkland Islands, all the rest of the school knew that Miska was wavering between Skogula and the leader.

  As Skogula did not know half the tricks which whales use when they fight together, he felt a little apprehensive; he also knew that if he put the fight off too long, Miska would get tired of waiting and go over to his rival. So on the next day, when all the whales were at the surface, Skogula summoned up all his courage, and swam across the water to his enemy.

  Miska watched him with an anxious yet pleased expression, for she was very gratified at the idea that all the fuss was over her.

  Skogula, on nearing the leader, felt fearful, but he put on speed and butted the other in the side. His adversary had been expecting this, and quickly wheeled round to meet Skogula. The other whales retired to a short distance. As the leader came shooting towards him Skogula felt paralysed for a moment, but in an instant he launched out ploughing up big waves on each side as he surged through the water. The whales met with a dull thud, and Skogula saw his enemy half roll over. This was only a trick, but he rushed in to be met by a gleaming row of teeth, which instantly closed on his flanks just below his side fin. Frantic with the pain Skogula tore himself away, and then ch
arged in again snapping furiously.

  The whales were enveloped in a flurry of white foam as they raged to and fro, beating up the water with their tails.

  The great waves that they made reached an object which was lightly wedged between two rocks. This object floated when a big wave lifted it lightly off the rocks, and it bobbed up and down in the sea.

  The fighting whales could hardly be seen for the splashing, but things were not going very well with Skogula, for the blubber was torn from the sides of his head in great strips and he had lost quite a lot of blood. The other had got some nasty furrows down the sides of his head; he was not having things all his own way.

  But Skogula was beginning to tire, and it was all he could do to keep face to face with his enemy. The round object was getting nearer and nearer to the whales. Skogula began to attack furiously, for he felt his strength was giving out.

  He scored a great slash down his opponent’s side, ploughing up the blubber. A moment later they had their jaws interlocked and they tore the water into a thin spume in their fury.

  Skogula was half over in the water as his opponent pushed him backwards, when he felt an awful pain and a sharp crack as two of his big teeth gave way and tore out. Suddenly the other broke away and backed for a fresh charge, and though he had suffered rather badly, losing three teeth, he was still much fresher than Skogula.

  As the other broke away Skogula had received a terrible wrench which had dislocated his jaw; he snapped feebly and it hurt. The other bull charged, but was met firmly and retreated again. Skogula knew that he could not go on butting to keep the other off, and sooner or later he would have to give way.

  His adversary was lobtailing, bringing his great tail down on the water with a sound like that of a gun. Skogula eyed him apprehensively for a moment, when he caught sight of the object which had floated quite near. But he had no time for watching it, for the other was charging with his under-jaw snapping up and down.