Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1881-12-03
FIGHT BETWEEN SEA MONSTERS.

hank of a lofty Glib Oh tbat paiSo
the coast between Placentia and st. 4
Mary's Bays. Everything was Sui.
Only thefaintest murmur, the angry
tones of the ocean roar upon tue SURF
melted into delicious music, stole up
from the strandsto where | stood.
The sea fowl, witch inhabited small
island in myyiaas tony left, seemed
too, to have Gllep nnder the spell
and gone to slseps The ocean heav-
ed its hreast iinsfssbls pillows rolling
landward witf4adrowss notion, and
the fisherman in his small rested
upon his oars to listen to the STILL
ness and calm which had fallen over
everything.
A dozen or more of fishing skif1s
and boats, a little less than schooner
size. stood motionless where the last
breeze had tainted on their sails, and
were photographed to perfection IN
the smooth liquid deep, and even the
''unerring tides" forgot for the mo-
ment, or seemed to forget, to set ell
ther north or south. As stood, like
everything about me, mute under
the influence of the afternoon, SOUND
of innumerable and gentle tappings
came up from the still sea, and look
inc. | saw that myriads OF fishes, cod
and the lesser creatures Oh which the
former preyed, had risen to the sur
face and were 'breaching." The tap
pine sound was made by beating the
water with their tails and fms. Such
n scene was not uncommon but al
most simultaneously with this |
heard % hollow whistling sound, and
saw a column OF spray rise llke a
revser. about fourteen feet from the
water.
saw then that Il whale had risen
among the fishes, and with his mon
ster, gaping jaws, in a fourth OF the
time ittakes to write it, had engulfet
several hundred of the preaching fish
es. and was about to plunge unde1
the waves again to swallow his pre-,
piecemeal, when two other creature
appeared upon the scene. They were
the united and implacable foes OF tn
whale--the sswordfsh and thrasheI
The swordfish Isl long, 1.-THE crea
ture. armed with a long, hard sub
stance protruding from its snout, re
senblinga sword, from which 1T de
riyes its name. Thrasher is Il spe
eies of sea shark or fox shark, scien
tificallv known as Carcharias vulpe'
1t was evident that they had com
for the double purpose OF making wa
upon the whale and getting some
the feast for themselves. In tn
space it takes eye to twinkle the o
tansiye and defensive were assumed
The swordfsh attacked the wha
under water, the tbrasher attacke
him above. As the whale made q
effort to dive he impelled himse
againt the armed heard of his It'll
foe, and if he remained where he wi
the thrasher brought it's ungaln
body with the precision Of machlne
down upon the unfortunate monster
back. Such o "thrashing" had ne
err conceived Of, even in my drear
when used to go Oh the hills al
rob birds nests, when ] saw t
teacher, more terrible than a wrat
ful dragon, with a cowbide to expla
NV guilt. The sounds were d
thuds when the tliraslier struck
antagonist, and sharper and !out
when he missed his ann and stru
the water. The waves were beat
about in foam and spray, the VIII
trying to ply his tail upon his ell
mics, bat before he could get his
calmly body into position his enem
we're out of harms way and max
a new attack upon an unexpec
quarter.
The contest continued, broken o
by short intervals, when the VII
went below the surface for about
minutes. Then the sword fish, a
satisfied with the part he had play
dived down into the clear, blue
ter, and the thrasher followed
.,Io rho uhoin t0O SUddf