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to conceal their approach. As they drew near to their prey, they began making audible sounds, and the sea reverberated with a range of clicks and shrill screams which had the purpose of echo-locating the shad, and both frightening and disorienting them at the same time. The shad immediately fled, kept close to the surface by the orcas that had swum underneath them, and gradually they were herded into an ever tightening mass all streaming in the same direction. Ahead of them, the three orcas that had swept wide waited as the unwitting fish approached.
    At a signal from the bull they attacked, making terrifying sounds as they swam at speed towards the school. The shad immediately panicked, the front runners turned against those behind and the surface of the sea became alive with a mass of terrified fish. The orcas began breaching, rising from the waves and crashing down again with huge splashes that sent shock waves through the water, partially stunning their prey. Then one by one they took turns to swim into the school to feed.
    A small dinghy with an outboard motor was anchored close by, and two men on board were fishing with rods and lines, unaware at first of what was happening. As the orcas began their initial approach towards the shad many of the school broke off and tried to shelter close to the dinghy.
    The men noticed that their boat was suddenly surrounded by fish of about three pounds in weight.
    “What the hell…” one of them said, and looked to his companion in bewilderment.
    Both men immediately brought in their baits and dropped them over the side, but none of the swarming fish were biting.
    “Looks like something’s spooked ‘em.”
    The other man looked around. About two hundred yards behind them a mass of water was boiling at the surface, where thousands of fish were thrashing in panic, and he caught sight of the dorsal fins of several approaching orcas.
    He pointed, white faced, and his companion followed his fearful gaze.
    “Oh shit,” he said quietly.
    An orca erupted from the sea fifty yards away, its great, black body and snowy white chest clearly visible as it rose twenty feet into the air before crashing down to the surface with an enormous splash.
    “Jesus,” one of the men breathed, awestruck.
    His companion immediately dropped his rod and scrambled to the back of the boat where he began trying to start the small motor. The waves created by the orcas were rocking the little boat precariously. Suddenly the other man shouted and pointed frantically. Heading straight towards them at about twenty-five knots was a five foot dorsal fin rising from a bubble of water beneath which could be seen the massive body of an orca.
    “Christ, it’s coming right at us,” the man at the motor breathed.
    The two men gripped the gunwales, their eyes wide in fright as a six ton killer whale bore down on them. At the last moment the orca changed course, but the wave he created rocked the boat badly and one of the men was pitched into the water. His companion shouted to him, leaning over the side with his arm outstretched. What the man in the water couldn’t see was that behind him the orca had turned and was surging straight towards him, the great fin towering above the surface as the animal drew closer.
    The man swam as fast as he could, but he was weighed down by his clothes and shoes, and he was beginning to panic. He guessed from his companion’s terrified expression what was happening.
    “Hurry,” the man in the boat shouted.
    The man flailed his arms in panic. He knew that the orca was coming for him. He felt himself lift as the front of the pressure wave hit him and he cried out in pure terror. Any moment he expected to be engulfed in vast jaws that would crush his bones and flesh to a bloody pulp. In his horror of being devoured he screamed and took a mouthful of water which started him choking. Bizarrely he could feel his hands brushing the panicked shad in the water, then he fell again and was