The Osceola times., 1881-12-10
A BATTLE OF TIE DEEP.
Seeing an Encounter Between ghsIs and
His Enemies on the Coast OF New
foundlaud


His Enemies on the Coast Of New
foundland.
A letter from st. Johns, n. f., saws
On lovely afternoon in July stoodnp
on the bank of a lofty cliff on that part
of the coast between Placentia and ~
Mary's bays Everything was still. Only
the faintest murmur, the angry tones Of
the ocean roar upon the surf, melted into
delicious music, stole up from the strand
TO where | stood. The Eea-fowl, which
inhabited small island IN myriads to
my LETT, seemed, too, 10 have fallen up.
der the spell and gone to sleep The
ocean heayed its breast in feeble billoys.
rolling landward with a drowsy motion.
and the fisherman in hissmall boat rest
ed upon his oars TO listen TO the stiffness
and calm which had fallen over every
thing. A dozen or more of fishingskiiIs
and boats, q 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 "un.
erring tides" forgot for the moment. or
seemed to forget to set either north or
south. As stood like everything about
ternoon, sound as of innumerable and
gentle tappings came up from the still
sea, and, looking, saw that myriads of
fishes, Gods and the lesser creatures on
which the former preyed, had risen to
the surface and were preaching" The
tapping sound was made by beating the
waters with their tails and fins. Srch a
scene is not uncommon, but almost sim
ultaneously with this | heard hollow,
whistling sound, and saw column of
spray rise like geyser, about fourteen
feet from the water. | saw then that
whale had risen among the fishes, and
with his monster, gapingja jaws, in fourth
of he time it takes to write it, had en-
quilted several hundreds of the breach
ing fishes, and was about to plunge I'M
der the waves again to swallow his prey
pie;emeal, when two other creatures
appeared upon the scene. They were
the united and implacable foes Of the
whale, the swOrd-fish and thresher. The
sword fish, xiphias gradius, is a long,
1.-the creature, armed with long, hard
substance protruding from his snout, re
sembling swerd, from which it derives
its name. The thresher is species of
known as carcoarias vulpes Ii was eyi
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 takes the eye TO twinkle |
the offensive and the defensive were as
sumed. The sword fish at once attacked |
the whale under water; the thresher at
tackled him above. AS the whale made |
an effort to dive he impelled himself |
against the armed head OF his 1.-THE foe, |
and if he remained where he was the |
thresher brought its ungainly body with |
the precision of machinery down upon |
the unfortunate monsters back. Such a |
"threshing' ] had never conceived of, |
even in my dreams, when ! used to go |
to the hills and rob. .birbs' nests, and saw |
the teacher, more terrible than wrath |
ful dragon, with a cowhide to expiate |
my guilt. The sounds were dull thuds |
when the thresher struck his antagonist,
and sharper and louder when he missed
his aim and struck the water The
waves We're beaten about in foam and
spray, the whale tryinlng to ply his tall
upon his enemies, but before he could
get his ungainly body into position his
enemies were out OF harms way and
making new attack in an unexpected
quarter. The contest continued, broken
only by short intervals, when the whale
went below the surface, for about ten
minutes. Then the sword-tish, as If sat
istied with the part he had play dove
down into the clear, blue water, and the
thresher followed his example. The
whale, too, suddenly disappeared, and as
he was the only one of the three that
had to rise and breathe at stated inter
walls, / watched with much eagerness to
see where he would rise and blow" or
if he rose at all. Beyond the point, a
half mile distant, / saw the spout and
then vigorous plunge, and knew the
whale had survived his thrashing. Num-
bers of boats had rowed up TO see ,he
afIray, and gazed at the contest between
these monsters of the unknown deep
with a pleasure deeply mingled with
awe.