r of tusks, won't
we?"

Eric was no less delighted, and all his nervousness having vanished,
executed a sort of war-dance around the prostrate forms of the
sea-monsters, which looked all the uglier the closer he got to them.
Drawing a big knife from his belt, Ben approached his walrus to sever
the head from the body, Eric standing a little distance off to watch
him. They were quite sure the creature was dead; but the instant the
sharp steel touched its neck it came to life, for it had been only
stunned. With a sudden sweep of its fore-flipper, it hurled Ben over
upon his back, sending the knife flying from his hand.

"Eric! quick! for God's sake!" cried Ben, as he fell.

The infuriated monster was right over him. In another moment those
terrible tusks would have been buried in his body, when, with a roar
like that of a lion, Prince launched himself full at the walrus's head,
and his great fangs closed tightly in the soft part where the head
joins the neck. Uttering a roar quite equal to the dog's, the morse
turned upon his new assailant; but just as he did so, Eric's rifle
spoke again. Its bullet crashed into the monster's brain, and with a
mad flurry, which loosened even Prince's hold, it rolled over upon the
sand, this time dead beyond question.

Ben sprang to his feet, and rushing upon Eric flung his arms around
him, and gave him a hug that fairly squeezed the breath out of him.
Then, without a word, he turned to Prince, and repeated the operation.
He then expressed his gratitude in these words,--

"It was a good day for me when I saved your lives. You've done me good
ever since; and now you've saved my life, and it's only tit for tat.
All right, my lad; so long as there's a drop of blood in my body, no
harm shall come to either of you that Ben Harden can fend off."

The business of beheading, which had been so startlingly interrupted,
was now resumed. From the way Ben handled his knife, he was evidently
quite experienced at the work. They wanted only the tusks, but to get
them out in perfect condition, it would be necessary to boil the heads
until the flesh came off readily; so they had to take them back to the
hut for that purpose.

Well satisfied with the result of their hunt, they ate their lunch and
took a good rest before returning to the hut, which they reached early
in the afternoon. They both felt that they were now bound to each
other by ties of peculiar strength. Eric, uncertain and full