The Russellville Democrat., 1881-11-24
ABATrLE OF TEE DEEP.
Seeing an Enccuntez Besween whale and His EaemieS 0f tze coz=t of New
 found land.

seelaE an Eneountsr Besween whale and
 His Eaemies 0n t-e coz-f of Nsu-
 fonnoIAna.
 A letter from St. Johns. x F., says. On lovely afternoon in July stood up- on the bank of lofty cliff on that psrt of the coast between Plscentiz and St Mary bays. Everything wss sfill. Only the fainteSt muTmnE, the angry tones of the ocean ruzr upon the srTf, melted into delicious music, stole up from the strand 10 where stood. The se2-fowi which inhabited a small island m myriz6s to my lefs. seemed. too, to have fallen un- der the spell and gone to sleep. The ocean heave5 is breast in feeble billows rolling landRard with s drewsy motion and the fisherman in hissnall boat rest ed upon his oars b listen to the stiffness and calm which had fallen over every thing. \ dozen or more Of hsbingskiffs and boats s little less than schooner sire, stood motl0nlsss where the last breeze had tainted OE their sails, and were photographed to perfection in the smooth. liquid deep; and even the ~un- erring tides forgot for the moment, CT seemed to forget io set either north or south. As ] stood like everything about me, mute under the influence Of the af- ternoon, 6 sound &s Of innumersbls and gentle tappIngs came up from the still sea and, looking, ssE that myriads of fishes. eods and the lrs CT creatures on which the former preRsd. had risen 10 ihe surface and were "hre scbing." The tapping sound was made hy beating the waters with their tails aisd fins. Such g scene is not uncommon. bEt &lmost sim ultzne9Esly with this ] beard hollow. whistiing sound, and ssE column Of sprzy rise like ses ser. about fourteen feet from the wafer. saw then that 8 whale had risen among the hshss s, and SIh his monster, EsFingjzss- in fourth of he time it takes to write II. had en- gulfed several hundreds of the breach ing fishes, and was abogt 10 plunge un- der the waves again 10 swallow his prey pie semssl, when two other creatures appeared upon the scene They were the united and implseable foes of the whale, the sword fish and thresher Tie sword fish. xiphias gradius, is 8 long 1.-the creature. armed with 8 long. hard substance proiruding from his snOut, re- sembling a swer0, from which il derives its name. The thresher is 8 species of ses-.hark or fox-shsrk, scientifically known as csrc1ariss yulpes- l. was evi- dent they had come for the double pur- pose of making war upon the whale and getting some Of the feast for themselves In the space it t2kes the eye 10 twinkle the offensive and the defensive were as- s1me1. The sword fish at once attacked the whale under water; the fhresher st- tzcked him above. As the whale made an effort tO dive he impellsd himself against the armed head Of his 1.-the foe, and if he remained where be WAS the thresher brought its uRgainly body with the precision of machinery down upon the unfortunate monsters back. Such a -threshingT l had never conceived of, even in my dreams. when used 10 20 10 the hills and rob birhs' nests. and saw the teacher, more terrible than a wrath fal dragon, with 8 coEhide 10 expiste my guilt. The sounds were dull thuds when the threSher struck his antagonist. and sharper and louder when he missed Ais aim and struck the water. The waves were beaten about in foam and sp-zv. the whale tryining to ply his tsil sg 1n his enemies, but before he could get his E1gzinly body into position his enemies were out of harms way and making new attack in an unsxpected 1zsrter The contest continued, broken only hy short intervals, Ehez the whale went below the surface, for about ten minutes. Then the sEord- fish, ss II szt- is5s6 with the part he hsd played dove down into the clear, bsue water, and the ihrssheT followed hiS example. The whale. too, suddenly disappeared, and 2s he WAS the onIy one Of the three that had fo rise and breathe al stated inter- vAls. Eatched with much e2serness to sec where he would rise and blow" or fl he rose At all. Beyond the point, 6 half mile distant, l sSw the spout and then vigorous plunge, and knew the whale had survived his thrsshing. Num- bers of boats had roved up 10 see lhe a5ray, and gzEsi sf the contest between these monsters of the unknown deep with 8 pleasure deeply mingled with ave.