sooner did they behold each other, than, with
a roar, something betwixt a bark and a bellow, they collided, and a
furious fight began. The sea was churned into foam around them as they
rolled, reared, spurned, and drove their tusks into each other's skulls
and shoulders.

The boats lay quietly by, their occupants looking on with interest. The
Eskimos were particularly excited, but no one spoke or acted. They all
seemed fascinated by the fight.

Soon one and another and another walrus-head came up out of the sea, and
then it was understood that a number of cow walruses had come to witness
the combat! But the human audience paid little regard to these, so much
were they engrossed by the chief actors.

It might have been thought, from the position of their tusks, which are
simply an enlargement and prolongation of the canine teeth, that these
combatants could only strike with them in a downward direction, but this
was not so. On the contrary, they turned their thick necks with so much
ease and rapidity that they could strike in all directions with equal
force, and numerous were the wounds inflicted on either side, as the
blood-red foam soon testified.

We have said that the human spectators of the scene remained inactive,
but, at the first pause, the Captain said he thought they might as well
put a stop to the fight, and advised Leo to give one of them a shot.

"We'll not be the worse for a fresh steak," he added to Benjy, as Leo
was taking aim.

The effect of the shot was very unexpected. One of the bulls was hit,
but evidently not in a deadly manner, for the motion of the boat had
disturbed Leo's aim. Each combatant turned with a look of wild surprise
at the interruptor, and, as not unfrequently happens in cases of
interference with fights, both made a furious rush at him. At the same
moment, all the cows seemed to be smitten with pugnacity, and joined in
the attack. There was barely time to get ready, when the furious
animals were upon them. Guns and rifles were pointed, axes and spears
grasped, and oars gripped. Even the women seized each a spear, and
stood on the defensive. A simultaneous volley checked the enemy for a
moment, and sent one of the cows to the bottom; but with a furious
bellow they charged again.

The great anxiety of the defenders was to prevent the monsters from
getting close to the boats, so as to hook on to them with their tusks,
which would probably have overturned them, or pene