“It was like piercing butter with a hatpin; and this dull acquiescence on the creature’s part only whetted Eric’s blind rage. When at last the great flukes lifted once, his heart leaped with the hope that at the end there might come the struggle and the opposition for which he hungered; but agony had lifted the flukes, and the bursting heart of the mother brought them gently down again, never even disturbing the little creature at her side. “She died; a thrust killed the calf. The boat sheered out; and then the boatsteerer shouted a warning from the stern. “Eric whirled and saw a great bull whale just emerging from the depths; and the whale headed for them furiously. “I do not say the creature was the dead cow’s mate. It would not be strange if this was so; but it need not be asserted. I do not say the bull attacked the boat. He was badly gallied, he was running blindly. “But whatever the explanation, he charged them; and Eric shouted triumphantly at thought that here was the adversary he had desired. “The boatsteerer swung the boat about to meet the onrush; and Eric snatched a harpoon. They swerved out of the path of the bull. As he roared past them in a smother of foam, Eric sent the harpoon home. “But the next instant the smashing flukes struck them, and the boat’s whole bottom was driven away. Eric chopped the line loose to save them; and in ten seconds from the appearance of the bull, they were to their necks in water, the boat beneath them. “The bull charged on and disappeared. I lowered and went after the men in the water; and we got them aboard. Eric was reacting from his fury now; he was shamed at what he had done; and he looked back once at the body of the cow, about which sharks were already fighting, with something like apology in his eyes. “The men were talking. ‘Did ye see the cross on the bull’s head?’ the tub oarsman asked; the steerer assented. “‘A white scar in the blubber,’ he agreed. “The others nodded; and Eric looked at me and said quietly: ‘The old bull was marked.’ “It was when we were all aboard again, and Eric had changed to dry garments, that Joan came up to where he stood with me. Her eyes were blazing; and little Jem, at her heels, was chuckling blackly. “‘That was murder,’ said the girl, trembling with her own anger. “Eric flushed, and his head bowed a little. “‘A cow and a calf--killed uselessly!’ Joan exclaimed. “The big man, uneasy, shy, not knowing where to turn, saw little Jem beside him; and he turned to the boy and caught the lad under his arms, and swung him high in the air. ‘Up you go!’ he cried, trying to laugh. “He meant only to start a romp--anything to divert the girl’s searing scorn; but the malignant spirit of little Jem converted the movement into black tragedy. The child screamed indignantly, and kicked down at Eric’s upturned face with his sound foot.