Kilroy and the Gull [antikvár]

IOn an evening in spring, when the ice was gone from the bay and the setting sun painted the smooth water a flaming red, the surface was broken by what looked like a cluster ofsharp spikes, and a sound like escaping steam. Then the spikes were gone, leaving only ripples, and there was silence until they reappeared, again with an explosive puff. A pod of orcas, otherwise known as killer whales, was entering the bay, and from the shore they were watched by three men. Quietly, the men climbed into a moored launch, and waited.'Don't start the engine yet,' one of them said. 'Wait till they get farther in.'The other two nodded, and began to arrange a large net in the stern of the launch.The first man watched through binoculars as the orcas, surfacing every few minutes, moved up the bay, then he gave a signal, and one of the others started the engine and the launch moved slowly out from shore, its engine making a low, fluttering noise in the still air.From far away the orcas heard the sound, and paused in their course as though waiting to see what would happen next. Then, as the launch moved towards them, they submerged, and came up several minutes later at a spot at right angles to their original track.