The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-31


 sation they had been having. He told her they would arrive at the island to- morrow, and she would then see what a sweet spot he had selected for the birthplace of their first-born. There was deep water right up to the edge of the wide-spreading ref. Shallow wind ing channels. that only sagacious whales, humpbaeks like themselves, could find or thread amid the incessant rolling of the enormous breakers, led into a spacious lagoon behind where there was no greater depth than six fathoms The floor of those quiet quar- ters was delightfully."- Jagged, so that she would be able easily to chafe off every last barnacle and limpet from the lovely folds of her charming breast. AS for food. the place was alive with tender young squid and -slugs all fat and juicy. And as he spoke he ca ressed her lovingly with his fifteen-foot fin that spread like a wing from the broad expanse of his side, while she gazed up at him affectionately out of the corner of her tiny eye.
 When she instinctively expressed her fear of the ever-vigllant sharks, who love nothing better than a tender young calf, he comforted her by an as- surance that there was little need to fear there. If stray one should come proving around she was to attack him at once, as he would almost certainly be alone. Then his voice took graver tone as his wound reminded him of the greatest danger of all, and one of which she had no experience. He told her l., o4 i, ,+1 NF their people came occasionally white things, with long, thin legs, walking on the top of the water. They were not nearly as big as whale, but there seemed to be smaller living things in them that were awful and dangerous. They bit with long sharp teeth. they had arms hundreds of feet long, and they knew no pity even for languid | mother and newborn calf. They had killed vast numbers of the whale folk, and the thought of his escape from them made him ache with fright, though it was so many years ago. l Even as he spoke the school swept into sight of a vast barrier of coral, | and, settling down many fathoms, they | skirted it's base rooted in the eternal | buttresses of the world Grand and l awful was the view, but they needed it l not, being on business bent, with no ad- miration to waste on the gorgeous scene or appreciation of the unreliable marvels of the deep: matters of every day with them. Presently they rose near enough to the surface to hear the awful roar of the league-long line of resistless breakers overhead, and, turn l foJJo haf ord md | leader into one of the channels he had spoken of. Ittwound it's torturous way for a couple of miles through the great reef, the stiffness of the placid shall lows strangely disturbed by the roaring return of the displaced water as the 1 troop. of leviathans padded gently | through it's intricacies. At length they emerged into a wide lagoon bounded on one side by towering masses of black rock rising tier upon tier for over two thousand feet In every other ,direc- | ton the sea raised a rampant of dag zling foam, which seemed never to sub | side for one moment or reveal even a remote chance of entry.
 1 For the next two days they stayed with her, exploring every corner, find ing 1t truly, as the Master had said, a place of ten thousand for a refuge from l all enemies. At last, when the patient mother-to-be had settled upon shady pool beneath huge oyerhanging crag l as her favorite spot, they all bade her l farewell, formed into line, and depart l ed, leaving her to the unfailing minis l trations of the good Nurse Nature, with promise to return again in about | ten days.
 On the second day of her loneliness a ] little son was born to her, pretty, 1 frolicsome creature about eight feet | long, his tender, shining dark skin ele- gantly mottled with splashes of gray, while the tiny furrows of his belly were white as curd. And the proud mother lolled In her cool corner feeding her babe from her bounteous breast, feel
 ing supremely happy. He was very well-spring of joy to her, every move of his 1.-the young body, every puff from his tiny spiracle, giving new pang of delight, Nor did anything harmful come near. But she never re- faxed her vigilant watch; not the faint
 splash of a gnanet after feeting fly ing-fish but sent a shudder of appre-
 hensive energy through her mighty frame.
 For one blissful week there was per feet peace. Then came a morning
 when the glorious blue sky grew gray
 and greasy, then black as soot A
 deathlike stiffness fell. The harmless fish and other denizens of the reef crept
 into crevices of the coral and all the
 birds fled wailing away. She was filled
 with an indeflnable dread, loneliness
 unfelt before stirred every fibre with
 fear. Moving uneasily about the re-
 stricted area of her shelter, her cali
 clutched closely under her fin, she saw spear after spear of crimson flame
 cleave the swart heavens, while i'm nense powders of red-hot rock fell in
 a hurtling hail around her. A seething torrent of molten lava amid dense fog of steam fell with deafening hiss into
 the sea. Desperately she sought to de-
 scend, but forgetting the bottom so
 near, dealt herself a fearful blow.
 Then, in frantic fear for her young
 ling, she rushed, holding him closer to
 her breast, around the barrier, seeking
 the passage through which they had
 entered. Almost exhausted with her exertions, she found it, fled along It's l windings with the rock heaving and | srOa ninp around her and at lort