poon in a crevice of the rock which
my eye at that instant fell on, I seized the end of the line, and in
spite of the sea-lions, which kept rushing past me, I struck out into
the surf as I saw Newman once more approaching. Happily I grasped him
by the collar as the sea was once more heaving him back, and the captain
and other shipmates coming to our assistance, we were hauled safely up
the rocks.

There was not now a moment to be lost if we would capture any seals.
Although many had escaped, still a good number remained near; and
following the example set by old Knowles, we began laying about us on
every side most lustily with our weapons, bestowing heavy blows on the
heads of the frightened beasts. One blow was generally sufficient to
stun, if not to kill them outright, and we then quickly despatched them
with our knives. "On, my lads, on!" cried the captain; and up the rocky
steep we went, meeting the maddened inhabitants as they came floundering
down upon us. We had literally often to climb over the fallen bodies of
the slain. Sometimes one of our party would miss his footing, and he
and half-a-dozen seals would go sliding away down the rock, the beasts
biting at him, and he struggling to get free, and in no small terror of
being carried away into the surf. Such would inevitably have been the
lot of more than one of us had not we all kept a watch to help each
other out of such difficulties.

Our captain's combat with the old lion was the most severe. As the
captain, unwilling to lose his lance or the beast, holding on to the
former, was dragged downwards, they reached a ledge of rock which sloped
in an opposite direction to the surrounding parts, and thus formed a
table on which they could rest. Here the monster, finding that he could
not escape from his opponent, turned bravely to bay, and grinning with
his large, strong teeth, made fiercely at him. The captain held on
pertinaciously to the handle of the spear, springing actively out of the
way of the beast's mouth, as in its contortions and struggles it
approached him too nearly. The lion roared, and snarled, and struggled,
and the captain held on bravely, but I believe would soon have had to
let go had not old Knowles, springing down the rock, given the animal a
blow on the head with his stick, which effectually settled him.

There were many other single combats, and more of one man against
half-a-dozen beasts; but the result was that we came off victo