Killer

Even as she considered the members of the first section of the herd, Kate heard a sudden roar from behind her at the far end of the floe. She turned, surprised. Beyond the camp, at the edge of the floe, nearly thirty yards away, the leader of the walrus herd had reared out of the water. He had swum back from his position at the front of the herd to explore the floe. Now he hooked his tusks into the soft ice and dragged his great bulk forward until his front flippers could grasp and pull him further forward. He lumbered, streaming, on to the blue-flame ice, and paused, his breath coming in great clouds. He faintly discerned the shapes on the far end of the ice so he roared a challenge and drew himself up to full height.

Kate drew a little nearer to Ross, just in case there was any danger, but the old bull only looked at them, flaring its nostrils to their scent. Shortsighted even in water, it was almost blind in the air, but its nose was keen enough. Satisfied that there was no threat, it roared again, turned, gave out the two-note bell-like tone, and dived into the water. They stood at the edge of the ice then, and watched as the rest of the herd pushed slowly past into the flat grey expanse of the western ocean, moving darkly among the bright ice-floes.

Job had the Remington now. Ross went over to him. The quiet after the animal carillon carried their voices quite clearly.

“Job, what’s wrong? Why the rifle?”

“In case he wanted to stay.”

“What?”

“They ride on floes; rest on them, in piles. It’s the way they move.”

“What are you talking about, Job?”

“Don’t you see? There must be nearly two hundred of them. If even half of them came up here they’d tear the floe to pieces, smash it up, coming up through, piling up. They’d destroy us! And this is the only big floe for miles.”

There was a little silence, then Simon said, “Well, it’s just as well they’ve gone!”

They automatically looked at the vanishing herd. And as they did so, two of the walruses suddenly hurled completely out of the water, rushing maybe ten feet into the air, bursting like paper bags.

Kate screamed. Simon went towards her. Job and Ross knew what had happened and stood silently side by side, their eyes narrowing, searching the churning water.

Beyond the herd they saw them, an arrow-head formation of black sail fins.

And then the walruses turned and, floundered wildly through the water, tearing each other, screaming with panic, started coming back with all the slow, terrible destructive force of a tidal wave.

iii

The leader had been travelling at more than thirty knots when he hit the first walrus, and, although in the water his vast body had no weight, the force of his charge was enough to hurl his target, itself weighing more than a ton, nearly ten feet into the air. In the time-honoured mode of complete surprise, he hurled suddenly up out of the dark depths, from the quarter where attack was least expected. As a vehicle travelling at a similar speed will destroy much of anybody it hits, so the whale destroyed the walrus: it was dead even before its body started falling; and even before the massive corpse hit the water again, three more of its companions were similarly destroyed.

Walrus did not normally form a large part of the whales’ diet, for they could be fearsome enemies when roused; but the mothers with their calves were too great a temptation to resist. The whales struck at the vulnerable centre of the herd, but the old bulls in the lead and the cows at the rear were on to the attack almost instantly, swimming with surprising speed against their black and white enemies, heads back and tusks held out like three-foot spears before them. Without fear or hesitation, twenty in all swam into the carnage to do battle, twenty more covered the retreat of the panicking families.

Most at risk among the whales were the young males whose excitement dulled their caution. Several of them were feeding voraciously upon the slowly sinking body of a particularly heavy female which the leader had chosen as his first target. Among those was a male less than five years old, and this was his first major attack against a walrus herd. He knew that caution was needed, for he had seen during his youth what walrus were capable of doing, but in the excitement for a few fatal seconds he forgot. Oblivious to all else he tore great mouthfuls of blubber and meat from the shoulder of the dead victim, and wolfed them down, holding himself steady, with flippers spread and the great flukes of his tail moving sluggishly, as he guided his body down after his falling feast.