with an iron-bound club three or four feet long, came up, and Kerick
pointed out one or two of the drove that were bitten by their companions
or too hot, and the men kicked those aside with their heavy boots made
of the skin of a walrus s throat, and then Kerick said, Let go! and
then the men clubbed the seals on the head as fast as they could.
Ten minutes later little Kotick did not recognize his friends any more,
for their skins were ripped off from the nose to the hind flippers,
whipped off and thrown down on the ground in a pile. That was enough
for Kotick. He turned and galloped (a seal can gallop very swiftly for
a short time) back to the sea; his little new mustache bristling with
horror. At Sea Lion s Neck, where the great sea lions sit on the edge
of the surf, he flung himself flipper-overhead into the cool water and
rocked there, gasping miserably. What s here? said a sea lion gruffly,
for as a rule the sea lions keep themselves to themselves.
Scoochnie! Ochen scoochnie! ( I m lonesome, very lonesome! ) said
Kotick. They re killing all the holluschickie on all the beaches!
The Sea Lion turned his head inshore. Nonsense! he said. Your
friends are making as much noise as ever. You must have seen old Kerick
polishing off a drove. He s done that for thirty years.
It s horrible, said Kotick, backing water as a wave went over him, and
steadying himself with a screw stroke of his flippers that brought him
all standing within three inches of a jagged edge of rock.
Well done for a yearling! said the Sea Lion, who could appreciate good
swimming. I suppose it is rather awful from your way of looking at it,
but if you seals will come here year after year, of course the men get
to know of it, and unless you can find an island where no men ever come
you will always be driven.
Isn t there any such island? began Kotick.
I ve followed the poltoos [the halibut] for twenty years, and I can t
say I ve found it yet. But look here--you seem to have a fondness for
talking to your betters--suppose you go to Walrus Islet and talk to
Sea Vitch. He may know something. Don t flounce off like that. It s a
six-mile swim, and if I were you I should haul out and take a nap first,
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