rtune. Again and again the Norseman tried;
but the little creature was too slippery, and gave way, so that it was
like trying to lasso a huge egg bobbing about on the surface.

"Give it up," said the captain at last; but it was just as the ring of
line fell once more round the plump, swimming and diving object, and
Steve's feeling of disappointment gave way to delight, for fortune
smiled upon the Norseman's efforts at last, or else the little walrus
threw one flipper over the rope and hugged it to its fat side, with the
result that the line was tightened with a snatch, and its egg-like body
was suddenly compressed into a dumb-bell shape.

"Got him!" cried Steve joyfully, and Skene nearly jumped overboard in
his excitement, barking the next minute furiously, while his master
stopped his ears; for the calf, as it was dragged toward the boat, first
set up a whimper, and then broke out into a series of snorts, barks, and
squeals, which gave it a strong resemblance to a pig being coerced into
quiescence while undergoing the ornamentation to its nose known as
ringing.

At the first dismal squeal, but unnoticed by the occupants of the boat,
the walrus herd stopped its retreat, at the second it turned, and at the
third it came rushing back as fast as it could tear through the water.

But little heed was paid to this in the excitement of dragging the heavy
calf over the side; for it "gave" in every way. There seemed to be
nothing to grasp or of which to get a good grip, while to have hauled
the animal in by the thin line looked like trying to cut it in two, as a
shopkeeper does soap or cheese. But at last Andrew "got a han'," as he
called it, of one hind flipper, Jakobsen of one of the fore flippers,
Steve hauled in the line, and Johannes reached over and caught the other
fin-like projection. Then there was a haul all together, and the
squealing and snorting object rolled over the gunwale and down into the
bottom of the rocking boat with what Hamish called "a squelch."

By that time a warning cry was heard from Mr Lowe's boat, and the party
with the captain gazed in dismay at the fierce-looking herd charging
down.

"Quick! oars!" cried the captain, and the men scrambled into their
places with a scared look on their faces.

"It's the youngling's cries has brought them down," said Johannes
calmly.

"You know these brutes of old," said the captain. "Will they attack
us?"

"They'll come close up, sir; but I don't thi