The Virgin and Child with St Anne

Far from her intention, her words were maddening me, driving me on. I could not play the coward before her eyes. ¡¡¡¡'Here goes,' I said, backing water with one oar and running the bow ashore. ¡¡¡¡I stepped out and advanced valiantly upon a long-maned bull in the midst of his wives. I was armed with the regular club with which the boat-pullers killed the wounded seals gaffed aboard by the hunters. It was only a foot and a half long, and in my superb ignorance I never dreamed that the club used ashore when raiding the rookeries measured four or five feet. The cows lumbered out of my way, and the distance between me and the bull decreased.
He raised himself on his flippers with an angry movement. We were a dozen feet apart. Still I advanced steadily, looking for him to turn tail at any moment and run. ¡¡¡¡At six feet the panicky thought rushed into my mind: What if he will not run? Why, then I shall club him, came the answer. In my fear I had forgotten that I was