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diff --git a/78351-0.txt b/78351-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dd4b366 --- /dev/null +++ b/78351-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2189 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78351 *** + + + + + [Illustration: Along came a huge brown bear. --Page 32] + + + + + SITKA + THE SNOW BABY + + By Allen Chaffee + + Author of “Unexplored”, “Lost River” + The “Twinkly Eyes Books” “Fuzzy Wuzz” Etc. + + Illustrated by + PETER DA RU + + MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY + + Springfield, Massachusetts + + + + + Copyright, 1923 + By MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY + Springfield, Massachusetts + + All Rights Reserved + + + Bradley Quality Books + + Printed in United States of America + + + + + _To_ + + PETER DARU + + _who knows and loves the Alaskan wilderness_ + + + + +FOREWORD + + +Here, in story form, is the natural history of Alaska, our last great +American wilderness. + +In the adventures of the wee white polar bear, who drifts down the +coast on a floating berg, the young reader has a chance to see Southern +Alaska, with its two months of lush summer verdure, as well as the long +frozen winter under the Northern lights, and the later summers far out +in Bering Strait. + +With the enterprising bear cub, he can watch Eskimos and reindeer, +seals and walruses, migratory sea birds and the salmon who swim the +inland waterways to spawn. He will witness the birth of an ice-berg and +adventure amid the storms and glaciers of the polar night. + +There is also the story of a seal baby, who became the pet of the +fisherman’s little boy. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + SITKA, THE SNOW BABY + + Chapter Page + + I. THE LITTLE WHITE BEAR 1 + + II. UNGA, THE ESKIMO BOY 8 + + III. ADRIFT ON AN ICE-BERG 15 + + IV. THE WALRUS HERD 22 + + V. SUMMER IN ALASKA 29 + + VI. BLUEBERRIES AND MOSQUITOES 34 + + VII. AN ADVENTURE 41 + + VIII. WOLVES AND SALMON 47 + + IX. THE BIRTH OF AN ICE-BERG 56 + + X. MONSTERS OF THE SEA 62 + + XI. TOOTH AND FANG 68 + + XII. “LET THERE BE PEACE” 81 + + + FINNY-FOOT, THE SEAL + + I. THE WATER PUPPY 88 + + II. PIETRO’S PET 95 + + III. THE TRAINED SEALS 101 + + IV. FLAPPER THE FUR SEAL 108 + + GLOSSARY OF ALASKAN WORDS 116 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE LITTLE WHITE BEAR + + +Sitka, the Snow Baby, opened his eyes on a world all blue-white +ice-bergs and green-blue ocean under a sky that sparkled in the spring +sunshine. + +He was as fat as butter and as fuzzy as a kitten, was Sitka, the little +white bear. He looked for all the world like a big puppy, with his long +white fur that was to keep him warm in this land of ice and snow. For +his home was Alaska, that great Western frontier of the United States +that reaches to the North Pole. + +Why was Sitka white, instead of black like his cousin Twinkly Eyes, of +the deep, black-shadowed pine woods? One reason for his having white +fur in that land of white was so that his enemies could not see him +so plainly. For there were fierce white wolves that would have eaten +him, had they found him, he was so little and soft and helpless. Of +course his mother could protect him,--if there weren’t too many wolves, +she was so big and fierce. Mother White Bear, like all the polar bear +tribe, was at least twice as big as Mother Black Bear. + +Sitka had been born five weeks before in the cave in the ice-berg where +his mother had slept the winter away. At first he had been naked and +blind and helpless. Now his fur had grown and his eyes had opened, and +he was ready to take a look at the world. + +My, how cold it was, even in spring, here in Alaska! His mother kept +walking back and forth, back and forth, on the ice, because the minute +she stopped her feet would have frozen fast, even though their soles +were covered with fur. Sitka watched her for a few minutes, then he, +too, began pacing back and forth, back and forth, without stopping. + +His mother had a longer neck than most bears, because it helped her to +keep her nose above water when she swam. She was a great swimmer, for +she lived on fish most of the time, and in her search for salmon and +mackerel and shell-fish she often went far from shore, swimming from +one ice-floe to the next through the open sea. The polar bear is often +called the sea bear. + +Now this is what had become of Sitka’s father.--When the long, dark +polar winter had set in and Sitka’s mother had curled herself up in +the ice cave to hibernate, her mate had gone roaming over land and sea +in search of good things to eat. He never slept the winter away as she +did, and the cold gave him a ravenous appetite. Something must have +happened to him during his wanderings, for he never came back. Perhaps +an Eskimo killed him, to make his warm white fur into a rug for his +igloo, as they call the little round snow houses these little brown +people live in. Or perhaps he wanted a bear skin to make himself a +parka, the hooded shirt they wear. + +Sitka’s mother had selected for her winter sleep a den on the ice-berg. +This was when the sea froze over. When the spring sunshine began +shining through the glassy walls of her retreat, and Sitka was strong +enough to follow her, she burst her way through the icy door of +her cave and led him forth, while she looked this way and that for +something she could eat. The berg had broken away from the harbor ice, +and floated this way and that through the open sea, as the wind blew it +along. There wasn’t a thing she could eat on that ice cake, and she was +starved after her winter’s fast. + +Most of the year she had to live on fish and clams, and the eggs of sea +birds, because only in mid-summer were there berries and grasses. She +loved salmon perhaps best of all. Once she found a good fishing ground, +she could catch the great silver fish with her claws. But not one fish +could she see in the water that broke in little waves against their +floating island. + +Small sea-gulls were flying low above their heads. They were Arctic +tern, and it made her mouth water to look at them. Leaping after one +that flew low overhead, she made a grab at it with her paw, but failed +to catch it. Wee Sitka also made a grab at them, but his fat legs +slipped from under him, and over and over he rolled like a furry ball. +The birds had been wintering in the South, and they had flown thousands +of miles on their long wings to get back to Alaska. By and by, when +the short Arctic summer came, it would be the most wonderful place in +the world to raise their families and find the things they liked to +eat. They had webbed feet, so that they could swim when their wings got +tired, and their long bills were hooked at the tips to help them catch +their slippery prey. + +Just now the circling birds wheeled at the call of their leader and +went flapping Eastward toward the Alaskan shore. “That means they’ve +seen something good,--perhaps a school of mackerel,” Sitka’s mother +rumbled deep down in her throat. No wonder the Eskimos watch the tern +for a sign of good luck, for the bright eyes of a flock of gulls are +sure to see where the best fishing ground lies. + +Mother White Bear plunged into the icy water, bidding the snow baby +follow her. Sitka dipped one fat paw into the icy tide, and squealed +that he was afraid. “Come on,” she urged him. “Just catch hold of my +tail and I’ll tow you along.” (For you know the polar bear has a wee +stub of a tail.) + +“No-o-o-o!” he squealed, afraid. But wise Mother White Bear sank almost +out of sight in the blue-green water. “Wa-i-t!” he wailed. + +Of a sudden she lifted her head high on its long neck, and sniffed the +current of the wind. Sitka also sniffed, to find out what it was she +smelled. Just then his feet slipped from under him, and off into the +icy water slid the fat white cub. “Oosh! Huff--huff--huff!” he gasped, +the plunge fairly taking his breath away. He felt sure that he was +going under. Without once realizing that he was learning to swim, he +struck out with all fours, just as if he were running, till he could +make a grab for his mother’s tail. Then he clung to it with his teeth, +while she swam strongly to the next great, floating ice cake. There she +scrambled over the edge, and Sitka with her, and stood shaking her wet +fur and sniffing the wind. + +“I smell birds’ nests,” she explained. “But I get a message about +something else, too. It must be an enemy;” for the fur was rising along +the back of her neck, the way it does when danger threatens. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE ESKIMO BOY + + +The little white bear wondered why his mother wriggled her nose, with +the fur rising so angrily on the back of her neck. + +It was only a boy,--Unga, an Eskimo lad, who, unlike Sitka, walked on +his hind legs all the time. But Mother White Bear had been hunted so +many times by these small brown people that her first instinct was to +dive beneath the icy water and swim to safety. But with the wee, fat +cub it would be hard to dive without drowning him. Of course, had she +been alone, she could have handled the little Eskimo with one blow +of her huge fore arm. But she knew he could throw a spear that might +hurt Sitka. Then he would take the cub’s soft fur to make a fur coat. +That had happened, once, to a polar cub. The thought made her growl +ferociously, deep down in her throat. + +A moment more and the fur-clad little fellow came in sight. Fortunately +for Sitka, he was alone. He had not brought one of the great, wolfish +“husky” dogs that bears are so afraid of. His father was driving the +dog-team to his sled that day. + +Sitka’s mother turned. The odor of the birds’ nests was very near now. +Following that wonderful nose of hers straight across the ice, she swam +another bit of open water, hoping to leave the boy behind her. Again +she crossed an ice-floe, Sitka close behind, and again she swam an open +lane of water. That way, they came to a rocky islet that was covered +thick with eider ducks. The great, handsome birds had plucked the soft +feathers,--the eider down--from their own breasts to line their rocky +nests, and in these nests were hundreds and thousands of pale eggs. The +whole rocky islet was covered with these nests. + +“Um!” sniffed Mother White Bear hungrily. “I think we have left that +boy behind, and I am going to have eggs for supper.” With Sitka close +at her heels, she shuffled along between the nests, taking here an egg +and there an egg and crunching it in her great jaws. The meal put new +strength into her; it would enable her to nurse her furry baby when she +put him to sleep. + +The ducks quacked and scolded, but there were so many eggs that there +would be plenty left to hatch into ducklings. + +So busy had Mother White Bear been at her feast that she had almost +forgotten about the Eskimo boy. Of a sudden she saw him paddling around +the islet in his seal-skin boat. At the same instant he saw wee, fuzzy +Sitka galloping along behind his mother, trying his best to keep up +with her. The boy raised his spear to hurl it at the Snow Baby. + +At that moment Sitka’s life was certainly in danger. But great, nine +foot Mother White Bear, catching a whiff of the wind that blew +straight to her wonderful nose from the dirty, greasy Eskimo lad, +turned back just in time. Furiously she batted the spear with her +powerful forearm as it came whistling through the air. In another +instant it would have struck her baby. Growling awful threats, she +rushed at Unga to drive him back. + +The little white bear, terrified by the battle that seemed about to be +fought over his small person, turned tail and ran for all he was worth. +From a point that jutted from the rocky islet he scrambled aboard a +blue-white chunk of ice. The next thing he knew, the ice cracked with +a sound like the roar of a cannon, and the floe he was on split off +and began floating away. Sitka whimpered in fright as he watched the +blue-green water rush in between him and the isle. + +But his mother saw him and came racing across the rocks, stepping, +smash! all over the birds’ nests in her hurry. Swimming the strip of +open water, she scrambled up beside him, and began nuzzling him all +over to see if he was hurt. The Eskimo boy would trouble them no more. +They could see him paddling away in his skin canoe. + +Sitka was to have an even more exciting time later that spring. Awaking +in his mother’s warm, furry arms to a morning of golden sunshine and +blue sky, with gulls flying overhead crying “que-ok, que-ok, que-ok!” +and the ice-bergs that rose like blue-white mountain peaks to seaward, +he was startled by a rumbling like thunder. All about them it began +sounding, for the ice cakes were breaking apart, floating this way and +that and grinding against one another. But their own berg, so snug +and safe with its cave in which they always slept, towered among the +up-ending ice cakes as secure as a miniature mountain peak. + +Away off in the open water they could see little spouts of water. +Sitka’s mother said it was whales “blowing.” + +“What are whales?” the cub demanded, round eyed with wonder. + +“Whales,” said his mother, “are great fish-like creatures, ever and +ever and ever so much bigger than the biggest polar bear that ever +lived. But the queer thing is that they are not fish, really, though +they spend their lives in the ocean, because they have fur instead of +scales, and the mother whale nurses her baby just as a cat does her +kitten.” + +“Oo! Aren’t you afraid of whales?” Sitka marvelled. + +“No. They have the tiniest mouths. But whale meat is delicious. These +little brown men hunt them for their blubber, as they call the fat that +lines their sides, and I’d love nothing better than to find a strip +of blubber. Let’s go a little nearer.--Um! I smell blubber now. I do +believe those Eskimos have been whale-hunting. If we could just find +where they’ve been cutting blubber, what a feast it would be!” + +The Snow Baby was happy to go exploring. Climbing a steep, icy slope +to the ridge of the next ice pan, they could see, away across the ice, +which had frozen in ridges like the waves of the sea, a huge dark body +that Mother White Bear’s nose said was a whale. But further out, a +horde of the fur-clad little brown men were racing toward another +whale in their seal-skin boats, with spears raised. Mother White Bear +hesitated. She hated to take Sitka too near these Eskimos. But the +odor of whale meat came tantalizingly to her nostrils, and she was +dreadfully hungry. Cautiously she padded forward, and Sitka after her, +ready at a moment’s notice to run for their lives. But they reached the +meat in safety. + +She had just begun to eat ravenously when a sudden shout went up. One +of the little brown men had seen her, and turned in pursuit. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +ADRIFT ON AN ICE-BERG + + +No sooner had Mother White Bear seen the Eskimo turn to pursue her +than she started running back over the ice floe, urging the fat cub to +follow. + +Sitka raced as best he could, but his fat forelegs were so much shorter +than his hind legs that he stepped on his own feet and fell, and rolled +this way and that. Again and again he fell, till Mother White Bear came +back and tried to carry him by the scruff of the neck. But he was too +heavy for that now. And all the time the little brown man was coming +closer. At last the Eskimo raised his spear to hurl it at Sitka. + +Mother White Bear had just come to the top of a steep, slippery place +on the ice-floe where it sloped to the sea.[1] In desperation, the +great, furry mother took wee Sitka in her almost human forearms, and +sitting down at the top of the slide, coasted straight down the ice-pan +into the white-capped waves. By the time the Eskimo had climbed to the +top of the slide, where he could see what had become of them, they were +swimming rapidly away, the cub holding fast to his mother’s tail. + +[1] Note--A polar bear seen on the broken ice off Wrangel Island was +seen to climb to the top of an uptilted ice-pan, lay down on his side, +and pushing himself off with one hind foot, coast down head foremost +to the water thirty of forty feet below, states E. W. Nelson in a +publication of the National Geographic Society. + +Another time he saw a mother bear shelter her cub from flying bullets +by taking him between her fore legs and swimming away with him. + +Even then the little brown man could have thrown his spear and struck +them, but Mother White Bear, suspicioning as much, made a dive under a +floating cake of ice. They came up on the other side, where he could +not see them, their noses just barely out of water,--and there they +waited till long after the little brown man had given up and gone back +to the whale hunt. + +There followed delightful days on Egg Island, as they called the rocks +on which they had found the eider ducks. It rained a good deal, but +they did not mind. The days were getting longer now. There were only +a few hours of darkness between sunset and sunrise. The ice of inland +rivers was thawed through in spots, where the Eskimos had chopped holes +to catch salmon. Mother White Bear would sit all day at one of these +salmon holes, watching for the big red fish. When she saw one, biff! +would go her fore arm, claws out like five ivory fish hooks, to nab the +slippery fellow. Then how she did feast! Sitka watched every move she +made, because by and by he, too, wanted to be a mighty fisherman. + +One day she took him to visit Seal Rocks. From far away they could hear +the dog-like barking of the queer creatures, as they lay basking in the +noonday sun. Now and again one would come swimming along with a fish in +his jaws, clambering up on the rocks with his flippers. + +Long ago, when the world was young, Mother White Bear told Sitka, the +seals all lived on land, and had legs, but they found it so much easier +to get their food from the sea that they became expert swimmers. That +meant that Mother Nature had to flatten their fore-legs into flippers, +with webbed fingers, so that they could use them as paddles, as a fish +does his fins. Their hind legs she turned into flappers that they could +hold snug together and use, like a fish’s tail, to steer with. This +makes it hard for them to get about on land, and Sitka thought it was +the funniest sight in the world to see them humping themselves along +over the rocks. But they were wonderful at swimming and diving and +catching fish. + +Mother White Bear would not swim too near Seal Rocks today, however, +because the great bull seals, the fathers and grandfathers, were there +to protect the little ones. And my, how those old bulls did bark at +them! For they feared that Mother White Bear might like the flavor of +baby seal. Nearly every cow-seal had a baby with soft, woolly white +fur, though when it grew up it would be brown and tan. Mother White +Bear would have liked to take Sitka a little nearer, but though the cow +seals were not much bigger than big dogs, the bulls were almost as huge +as herself. That, she told the inquiring cub, was because every bull +had to protect at least a dozen cows and their babies. The young bulls +are killed for their skins, and that makes the numbers uneven. + +The seals had all been South for the winter. In May the bull seals had +returned to the islands, swimming through the icy water so fast that +the cows could not keep up with them. For several weeks the bulls had +held contests, and fought among themselves to see who was strongest, +and who should have the best home sites on the islands. In June their +mates had come, and almost the same day, the seal pups had been born. +It is still cold in Alaska in early summer, but the seals have such +thick fur--these Alaska seals--that they do not mind. Of course the +best deep sea fishing cannot be found so near shore, and the mother +seals often had to swim for miles to find food. Then they would come +back and nurse their babies. By fall the little ones would be able to +fish for themselves, and they would all go South for the winter. + +The two bears next swam past some rocks where they saw a herd of huge +fat walruses. These leather-skinned old fellows, who looked as if they +might be second cousins to the seals, had great tusks that curved from +their jaws to the very ground. Sitka was terribly afraid when he saw +those ivory tusks. But his mother only laughed and bade him watch and +see what they did with their ferocious-looking weapons. Then she led +him over the rocks, past the lazy, lubberly creatures, who eyed them +stupidly, to where one old fellow was busy just off shore. To Sitka’s +immense surprise, the monster was digging clams with his tusks. He had +quite a pile of them waiting for his supper. + +Sitka watched with twinkling eyes till the old fellow’s back was +turned. Then he made a dash to see what those clams were like. My, how +that walrus roared at him! He made for him with his tusks, but Sitka +dodged to one side too quickly for his clumsy lunge. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE WALRUS HERD + + +On a bare, flat island of the ice pack sprawled a herd of walruses. +Sitka stared! + +They were the fattest, ugliest, fiercest looking monsters the little +white bear had ever seen. They were not as fierce as they looked, +however, as Mother White Bear knew, for they lived on clams and +shell-fish. Their fierce appearance came partly from the long ivory +tusks with which they dug their clams. + +They were enormous creatures, some of the old bulls weighing fully +two thousand pounds. Like seals, their legs consisted of flappers. +But there the resemblance ended. Instead of silky fur, they had ugly, +hairless, warty-looking hides, tough and wrinkled and of a muddy brown. + +Neither have they the brains of the seal tribe: for they had found the +life of the clam digger so easy that they had no need of brains, and +Nature takes back what we do not use. Their thick necks ended in heads +so shallow that there seemed to be nothing there but a pair of tiny +eyes and the whiskers at the roots of their tusks. + +On land these ungainly monsters were almost helpless in their +fatness,--instead of being agile like seals. But in the sea they were +marvelous swimmers, their layers of fat blubber helping there to float +them. + +However, like all mammals, they will fight fiercely when their babies +are in danger. + +As Sitka and his mother approached the ice where lay a herd of mother +walruses and their young, the mothers eyed them angrily, and the moment +they scrambled aboard the floe, several of them charged with the utmost +ferocity, bellowing and rearing themselves high on their hind quarters +as if to fling themselves on the intruders and crush them flat, as, +indeed, they might have done, had not Mother White Bear given Sitka the +signal to dive off into the water again. Dearly would she have loved +to treat him to walrus calf, but it was plain they would have to try +strategy in capturing such prey. + +For a time they swam around, not too close to the mother walruses. The +fathers were digging clams, heaping great piles of them on shore, then +settling to their feast, or sometimes eating as they dug. Sitka eyed +these clam piles with envy and a little mischief. “Mother, I’m going to +try it again!” he announced. And before she could utter a warning, he +had made a dash for the breakfast a huge old bull was looking forward +to, as he dug away in the shallow water. + +With a bellow of wrath the old fellow reared his monstrous head and +eyed the white cub with a gleam of anger. “Come back!” whoofed Mother +White Bear. But Sitka did not hear. The next moment the ivory tusks +would have come down straight into the middle of Sitka’s back, but that +he dodged, and slid into the water with no more than a red gash on his +white side. + +“Just wait till I’m a little bigger!” he roared at the walrus. “You +just wait!” + +It was therefore with huge interest that he watched his mother, towards +dusk that afternoon, prepare to creep up on a walrus calf. Bidding +Sitka remain in hiding behind a chunk of ice, she flattened herself +like a cat creeping up on a bird, and waited till it should be wholly +dark. She had fixed on a calf who, with his mother, lay a little to +one side of the main body of the herd, and in order to take them by +surprise, she and Sitka had made their approach by swimming first out +to sea, then doubling back and approaching with nothing showing above +water-line save the black tips of their noses. + +In that interval just between sundown and the first stars, when it +was darkest, she began creeping slowly forward. Once her foot scraped +the ice, and the walrus cow looked up suspiciously, and Mother White +Bear held as still as a rock till the cow had gone to sleep again. +Then forward she crept, nearer, nearer, nearer, nearer! Sitka could no +longer see her white bulk for the darkness, nor could he hear aught but +the wind and the waves. + +With a sudden dash she had broken the calf’s neck with a blow and was +dragging his huge weight back over the ice. The walrus cow was roused +now and rearing this way and that, trying to overtake them. But so +awkward are walruses on land that she could make no headway compared +with agile Mother White Bear; and though her bellowing awoke the herd +and they raised the most terrific alarm, they were still farther away +than she. In the inky darkness they only tumbled over one another in +their awkwardness, searching in vain for the cause of the disturbance. +Had Mother White Bear met them in the water, it would have been a +different story. But she did not take to the water till she had reached +the place where she had left Sitka. Then, softly, softly, they slipped +over the edge of the ice and began towing the fat body of the calf to +shore. It meant feasting for many days. + + * * * * * + +It was only a week later that they watched, themselves safely hidden, +their black noses just barely out of water, while a band of Eskimos +went walrus hunting, and Sitka marveled to see what cowards walruses +could be. As the little brown men approached in their kyacks (fearless +in these frail skin boats), the whole herd simply rushed terrified into +the water and swam for their lives. Even then it was simple enough for +the hunters to make a kill with their bone-pointed spears. Had the +walruses not been such cowards, it would have been the easiest thing in +the world for them to have reared their tusked heads out of the water +and crushed the boats. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SUMMER IN ALASKA + + +The ice-berg on which Sitka and his mother had their den was drifting +further and further South. + +It was but one of many bergs, and a small one, at that. Huge, +mountainous looking islets of the blue-white ice swam all about them, +sometimes bumping against one another with a roar. Sea birds screamed +above their heads, and the sun glinted from the water merrily, on +days when it did not rain. Sitka felt that they were bound on a great +adventure. + +Sometimes the wee white bear watched the waves that broke in white foam +against the floating bergs, and nowhere could he see anything but sea +and sky. Again they floated close to shore, where steep granite cliffs +jutted in long arms between the fiords,--the narrow inlets the ice had +cut. In places, the cliffs were red with the cooled lava that had come +pouring hot from some ancient volcano; and Mother White Bear would tell +Sitka how, when the world was young, the mountain peaks that lined the +shore had flamed and smoked and rumbled, and sent forth a fountain of +fire and ashes. For that was the way new mountains were made. At such +times Sitka’s eyes would grow round with wonder. + +“Will it happen again?” he asked uneasily. + +“Sometimes it happens even now,” his mother told him. “But it is +nothing to be afraid of. We won’t go near.” + +“But where does the fire come from?” he would ask. + +“From away inside the earth. You know it was once all hot millions of +years ago, but it has cooled until we have ice and snow.” + +Their little berg soon began floating down a shore covered by green +forest, which crept to the very water’s edge. Birds sang in the tree +tops, and lovely waterfalls poured over the pink limestone cliffs. +It was like paradise. Tall ferns and brilliant flowers embroidered +the brook banks. Mother White Bear sniffed. She could smell ripening +berries. It would be worth while to swim ashore and have a little +change from fish. Sitka was the happiest little bear in all Alaska. + +That day they feasted on clams and mussels and other shell-fish that +they found among the rocks. They had juicy meadow grasses, too, and +lilies with roots like onions. The days were growing longer and longer, +till there were just a few hours of darkness, and all the rest was day. +For it was the land of the midnight sun. “In winter Sitka’s mother +reminded him, it was dark almost all day, where they came from,--so +near the North Pole. + +Sometimes Mother White Bear would lead the way along the beach till +they came to the river. It began just behind the falls that shot over +the cliff in rainbow-tinted spray. Along that river was a bear-path +beaten hard into the soft soil by the feet of hundreds of other bears +black and brown and gray, who fished every year along the bank. There +the two explorers would catch salmon and leaping trout, and sometimes +they found great piles of fish that had been washed ashore by the +spring floods. These expeditions were a bit of a risk for a polar bear, +and Sitka’s mother was conscious that their white coats no longer +blended with the background of white ice that Mother Nature intended +them to live on. Still, they could always return to their cave on the +berg to sleep. It floated so slowly that they could ramble all day on +shore, and still swim back to it when night came. For Mother White Bear +could swim as fast as a motor boat when she wanted to. + +One thing she always avoided, and that was the settlements where +Indians, and sometimes white men, lived. When they passed a town, she +would “lay low.” For it was not of other animals she was afraid, so +long as she was with Sitka to protect him, but of the red men. + +She was, however, careful to keep out of the way of the huge brown +bears that lived along the shore. One day they had smelled ripe +blueberries, and she had led Sitka cautiously ashore for a taste of +the fruit. It was boggy where they grew. The heavy rains had left the +ground soaked with moisture, and they had to keep to the firm ground +around the edge. Even then, sometimes, the cub would slip on a soft bit +of moss and sink to his armpits in the oozy swamp or tundra, before his +mother could yank him out by the scruff of his neck. + +Here they felt the first mosquitoes Sitka had ever known. But they +couldn’t do much damage, through his thick fur, except around his face. +By and by, along came a huge brown bear, a kadiak bear, larger than +Mother White Bear. Sitka’s mother promptly hid him in a thick clump of +alders, but the kadiak never even looked in their direction. He was +following his nose to the blueberry bog. + +Now they had noticed how thick the mosquitoes were, out over the bog. +There were black clouds of them. Mosquitoes are worse in the short +Alaska summer than anywhere else in the whole United States, because +the ground is so wet and the sun so hot. The big brown bears and the +little black bears that live in Southern Alaska always go to the +mountains for the summer to get away from the mosquitoes, because on +the cool, windy mountainsides the maddening insects cannot live. But it +is a great temptation to come down sometimes and go blueberrying, where +the berries are thickest. + +This old brown bear, Sitka’s mother whispered to him, as they stood +hiding in the alder thicket, was very likely on his way to the +mountains for the two hot months. But first he was going to cross the +bog. “And the mosquitoes will eat him alive.” + +Sitka wondered how such tiny insects could harm such a great, shaggy +brute as the kadiak bear. + +“Suppose we watch and find out,” his mother suggested. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +BLUEBERRIES AND MOSQUITOES + + +Yes, sir, those mosquitoes will almost eat him alive!” Sitka’s mother +assured him. + +Sitka, wondering greatly, watched, as the huge old kadiak bear lumbered +across the bog. Sure enough, the mosquitoes followed him in swarms. +A black cloud of them hung over him, singing their horrid song. They +settled black on his fur, but that did him no harm. They could not +reach through to his hide. But there was, of course, no fur to protect +his eyes and nostrils, and the insects began settling on his eyelids +and on the tip of his nose till he had to paw them off angrily. And my, +how they could sting! Every time they poked their beaks into him for +a drop of blood, they left a tiny drop of poison in the wound, and +made it burn and swell. By and by the poor old fellow’s eyelids were so +swollen that he could not open his eyes to see where he was going. He +just wandered around and around in the bog, till he thought he never +would find his way out again. He had come that way for the berries, but +his lips and tongue were now so swollen from the mosquito bites that he +could not even enjoy the fruit. + +But at last he happened to wander near the edge of the bog. Then he +heard the sound of roaring water, where a river came rushing down the +mountainside to the sea. Making blindly for the sound, he plunged into +an icy pool, where he could cool his fevered face. And there he stayed, +just the tip of his nose above water so he could breathe, until the +swelling had gone down and he could see to go on up into the mountains. + +“Once upon a time,” Sitka’s mother told him, “a big brown bear tried to +cross the swamp, and the mosquitoes bit him till he couldn’t see, and +he just wandered around and around in that swamp till he starved to +death. And all the time, the mosquitoes kept pricking him for the tiny +drop of his blood that each one got. That is what I meant when I said +they could fairly eat one alive,--tiny as they are, when there are so +many of them.” + +Sitka looked back wonderingly at the kadiak bear that had had such a +narrow escape. He was shuffling rapidly up the mountainside. + +The next time the polar cub and his mother went exploring, they saw +a band of Indians camping on the river bank. The women and children, +dressed in bright hued calicoes, were fishing and gathering berries, +and cooking fish over little fires. Now fire was something that Sitka +had never seen before, and it looked so pretty that he wanted to feel +of one. But Mother White Bear was terribly afraid of fire, because it +was something she did not understand, and she kept him in hiding among +the tall ferns. It was dangerous enough, she said, for a white bear to +go into the woods at all, when the red men were about. + +By and by they saw a band of Indian men start up the mountainside. +When they had passed out of sight, Sitka’s mother began leading him up +another way. Far ahead, they could see the peaks and hollows filled +with snow, and she thought it would feel good to roll in the snow +again. Their fur was much too warm for this kind of weather. Besides, +she smelled wild mushrooms, and she meant to have a feast. In the snow +they could hide perfectly, should the red men come near. + +There were choice berries and other good things along the way to eat. +They started following the river, where the rainbow trout leapt out +of the water every now and again. They padded along as soundlessly +as possible on their furry feet. The clouds were gathering about the +peaks, throwing cool shadows over the woods. It would probably rain by +and by, but they didn’t mind in the least. They really enjoyed being +out in the rain. + +At first their way lay along the bear path where the earth had +been beaten hard along the river bank. On one side, the icy water +swirled over rocks and fallen logs, or slid in smooth sheets over the +gold-specked sands. For this was a land where much gold was found. On +the other side of the path, rank meadow grass grew high on the moist +soil, and even Sitka’s mother could not see above its waving tops. The +cub slipped into the soft black mud, till no one would have believed, +when his mother fished him out, that he had ever been a little white +bear. + +In this tall grass they could hear queer rustlings,--little squeals and +scufflings, and Sitka wondered what could be going on in there. By and +by the grass was not so tall. It was only about as high as Mother White +Bear. They were on a steep slope now, where the trees had all been +burned to blackened stumps, and the bunch grass grew. Suddenly a sound +of many hooves thudded along the ground, and Mother White Bear drew +Sitka into hiding between two granite boulders. A few minutes later, +a herd of reindeer went leaping and bounding over the grass and up the +mountainside. These Alaskan caribou can stand weather 60 degrees below +zero. But in summer they enjoy three months of feasting on the bunch +grass. + +At last the two bears reached a ridge where they could see ever and +ever so far. They could look back along the way they had come, across +the level stretch of grass and down the river glinting in the sun. They +could even see where the ocean beat against the cliffs in white foam, +and beyond, where the white bergs drifted. Up here the wind was cold, +and snow lay in the shady places. + +Then that same band of reindeer went leaping across the side of the +mountain opposite, and on up the steep slopes. After them came racing +the Indians, trying to head them off and capture them. They use +reindeer for both horses and cows,--driving them, milking them, and +using their hide to make their clothing, boats and houses. That is, +they do, when they capture them. They had all passed out of sight in +a twinkling and Sitka never knew whether they caught them or not. He +hoped the beautiful brown animals had escaped. + +But that night he found he had troubles of his own. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +AN ADVENTURE + + +I do hope our ice-berg doesn’t drift too far away!” said Mother White +Bear. “We’d spend another day on the mountain, if I thought it was safe +to.” + +“Let’s stay,” begged Sitka. + +The way now grew steeper, and the river grew narrower and swifter, +until the bunch grass gave way to tall ferns and the ground was soft +with pretty colored mosses. In winter the reindeer paw the snow away +with their feet and eat these mosses. Next came pale green willows and +dark green spruce and cedar trees. The Snow Baby, sniffing their piny +fragrance, rolled delightedly on the soft ground beneath them. + +Later the slopes were all wet moss, into which the wee fellow sank so +deep that his mother tried to lead him along the fallen tree trunks. +But they too were slippery with moss, and every now and again he would +slide off and have to be rescued. But then, there were the finest, big, +juicy berries! Blue-berries, thimble-berries, fat ripe huckleberries, +tart cranberries, and mild, sweet service-berries. It was a paradise +for bears! + +There were mushrooms, too, growing around the hollow logs, and +Mother White Bear knew just which it was safe to eat, and which were +poisonous. My, how she did love mushrooms! + +“Mother,” Sitka begged, “let’s stay here all the time.” + +But she explained that the summer is very short, just July and August, +here in this part of the world, and soon would come ice and snow again, +and they would have to go back to sea, where they could fish. Besides, +she preferred the sea. + +Sitka found it hard to imagine it ever being cold there, where the sun +shone so hot! But by September, she told him, would come the long +rains, and the days would grow shorter and shorter, till in mid-winter +it was terrifically cold on these mountains. + +Returning the way they had come, they found the Indians still singing +and laughing about their little cook-fires. Along the river bank stood +their baskets heaped with red and purple berries, and Sitka grabbed a +pawful every chance he got. But Mother White Bear led him away around +the Indian camp, as softly as she could walk, for “Safety First” was +her motto where the red men were concerned. + +Sitka was exhausted now, and they were eager to get back to their +cave in the ice-berg. But the little berg, which Mother White Bear +recognized by its shape, was away off behind two smaller bergs. Her +first thought was to swim clear around them, but the cub was by now so +tired and sleepy that he began whimpering and begging her to carry him. +How she longed to get back to the safety of their cave, where he could +sleep away the strange, sunlit night. + +As the bergs were drifting in the blue summer sea, there was a narrow +lane of water they might swim between the two new bergs, to reach +their home. Well, she decided, she would chance it. She was a powerful +swimmer, and Sitka could cling to her tail. If only those huge chunks +of ice would stop drifting about so! + +She had swum perhaps half this narrow channel when she suddenly became +aware that the walls of ice that towered on either side were closer +than when she had started. The two bergs were floating together, and +the spray that dashed against their sides began to fill her eyes with +mist, and her ears with the sound of the surf. Sitka, paddling wearily +along behind her, with her stub of a tail in his mouth, began to squeal +that he was being drowned, for the waves were chopping right over his +head. + +Mother White Bear redoubled her efforts, knowing that if they did not +get through the channel quickly, they would surely be crushed between +those two walls of ice. Anxiously she measured the distance that lay +ahead, then with a backward glance she made a hasty estimate of the +distance that lay behind them. Yes, they must be just about half way +through the channel. + +But ahead the space was narrowed till it seemed as if the icy walls +must clash together before they could pass them. And the tide was all +against her. Swim as she might, she could not seem to swim fast enough. +How she wished now that she had taken the long, safe way around. But it +was too late. + +But was it?--If only she were headed the other way, the tide would help +instead of hinder her. She glanced behind once more. To her surprise, +the way was widening, instead of narrowing, behind them. In fact, the +icy walls were drifting together in a V, and they were headed toward +the point of the V. + +Quick as thought, she turned, and began towing the tired Sitka back the +way they had come. Then the ice ahead came together with a grinding +roar, and the wave chop nearly strangled them. But she swam on, and the +wee cub behind her, till they were out in open water. One last mighty +effort and they were safe! An instant later the icy walls clashed +again, grinding together until the channel was entirely closed. But +they were safe! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +WOLVES AND SALMON + + +When Mother White Bear saw that they could not get back to their own +berg, she towed Sitka around the neighboring bergs to see if they could +not find a new home among them. They were of course tiny bergs,--hardly +deserving the name, but still affording them cool and comfortable +shelter through the long daylight nights. But all were too steep to +climb. + +There was nothing for it, then, but to return to shore. As she swam +back through the icy water, so pleasant after their hot day, she +wondered where they could hide themselves in the strange brilliance of +the Alaskan summer night. Nowhere along shore, certainly, with those +Indians encamped so near, and the excursion steamers of the white men +passing every now and again. + +There seemed nothing for it but to return to the snow fields of the +high mountains. So long as the summer lasted, there was food in plenty. +Later the salmon streams would freeze, and they would have to seek +their fish from the sea. But if they headed generally Northward in +their wanderings, along the snow-capped range, they would soon be back +in a land better suited to their heavy furs. Polar bears are, like all +bears, great wanderers. It was the first time in her life that Mother +White Bear had ever visited land in summer; but once in early winter +she had ranged Southward over the pack ice, in which she had denned +for her winter sleep. The breaking up of the pack in spring had left +her to summer on an island with Sitka’s older brother, then a wee cub, +though they had finally made their way back home by swimming many miles +through the open sea. + +Tonight as Sitka and his mother neared shore again, they were startled +to hear the baying of wolves. They hid behind an up-jutting boulder +just off shore, and waited to see what was going to happen. Through the +meadows that here lay between woods and shore came a herd of deer, and +from their enormous leaps and bounds Mother White Bear decided that it +must be a matter of life and death. + +Behind them the tall grass, man-high, moved here and there as if blown +by a wind, but it must be something else that moved it. Then out on +the rocky shore came the terror-stricken deer, and close at their +heels, there emerged from the concealing grasses three great fierce +white wolves. The deer were all but exhausted now, for they stumbled +as they leapt. They must have come a great distance,--perhaps from the +mountain-sides where they browsed in summer. But the wolves had gained +on them and the race was nearly done. + +Then the leader of the herd, raising his great antlers, leaped into +the water. After him plunged the others, and away they swam, straight +toward the rim of a green island that lay off-shore. The wolves +stopped at the water’s edge, for they are not good swimmers, baying +their disappointment till the fearful sound echoed and re-echoed from +the tossing bergs. + +But were the three wolves to go hungry? Sitka watched with frightened +eyes as the trio seated themselves in a row and howled their +disappointment to the curtain of light that now began to glow in the +North. There was nothing else to do but to watch the wolves and the +Aurora, for Mother White Bear would not venture ashore till they had +gone. + +Never would Sitka forget the shimmering silver folds of the curtain +that hung from the Auroral arch, the star-strewn sky, and the midnight +sun circling the horizon, glinting pink from the blue-white bergs that +tossed in the purple sea. The grinding of berg on berg, the smell of +sea-weed and the weird howling of the wolves, the slap-slap of the +waves, comfortingly cold against the furry sides of the wanderers from +the North, and the gurgling of the glacial salmon stream, all these +things went to make up the scene. Then the silver curtain ceased to +shimmer, and nothing remained but the long flames of white fire that +sprang from the zenith. + +[Illustration: The wolves stopped at the water’s edge.] + +As suddenly as they had appeared, the three wolves were gone, doubtless +to chase rabbits for their breakfast. + +Mother White Bear now led the way back along the same river they had +explored before. Sitka was tired and sleepy, but she would not stop for +him to rest till she had him back so high on the mountainside that they +could burrow into a snow bank. “Now we are safe,” she told him “and we +can take it leisurely.” Sitka drifted into dreams of catching mammoth +salmon. + +Now Unga’s tribe were of the Eskimos who hunt on the inland ice. +Probably, no one knew how long ago, their people had come over the ice +from Greenland, skirting the Arctic Ocean. Those there had been among +them, the tale had been handed down to them, who, wandering Southward, +had seen some of the Aleutian Islands born, spewed up as molten rock +from volcanic depths. Within the memory of Unga’s father two of these +islands had shot fire into the sky and covered all the sea with ashes. +Strange sights had been seen in that strange land,--and might be seen +again. For geography was still in the making. + +It was also rumored that tribesmen who had ventured far in their +bidarkas, venturing from one island to another, had found them leading +in a chain straight across to Siberia, dividing Bering Sea from the +Pacific. All this had been repeated around the fire of the council +house. + +Had Sitka and Mother White Bear but known it, they had drifted to +one of the three great sounds of the West Coast, Bristol Bay, in the +language of the white man. From this a chain of mountains reached +North-East to a branch of the Yukon, which mighty river they later +followed to the sea as it skirted another mountain range. For from the +Bay, where the air was warmed and moistened by a branch of the current +that crosses the ocean from Japan, they traversed many a hundred miles +of mountainside before they reached that river whose red salmon tempted +them to follow its length. + +That river, cut deep by the rush of the spring ice, ran Westward across +that mighty land to empty into Bering Sea, there to spread fan-wise +amid a thousand wooded islands into Norton Sound. + +But before Sitka and his mother had traversed its length, they had +skirted the sheer cliffs of foaming gorges, and fought mosquitoes along +miles of lake-dotted tundra. Their award was that they could often +creep up on sleeping ducks or plover, who slept in countless thousands +on these lakes as their clans gathered for the great migration +Southward for the winter. The two bears were overjoyed when at last, +after weeks of untiring travel, they could see the waves breaking in +white mist against the spruce-dark shore. The iron mountains behind +them shone rose-colored. They had feasted fat on the red and silver +salmon, and the grayling and whitefish of the teeming river, and now +at last the only barrier between them and the open sea was a series of +sand-bars and whirlpools and an excursion steamer, all to be avoided +with equal care. But that is getting ahead of our story. + +The river which cascaded from high up the mountain-side was agleam with +the shining bodies of samlets, young silver salmon with red spots and +black markings on their sides. Such luscious fish the little white bear +had never tasted as those they waded into the stream to catch. + +In the spring the parent salmon,--huge, silvery fish with black spots +on their sides,--had left the sea, with its teeming food supply, to +swim up-stream to the spawning beds. The gold seekers of ’98 had often +watched as the agile fish swam through the rushing torrents, leaping up +the waterfalls as easily and gracefully as a kitten leaps to the top of +a hedge. High in the mountains, where the stream runs shallow, they had +laid their eggs and left their young to hatch. And now the stream was +fairly alive with these samlets, some of them only a few months old, +some as much as two years. The spring of their third year they would be +large enough to go down to the sea. + +Mother White Bear showed Sitka a salmon laying her eggs. First the +great four-foot fish lay down in the gravel of the shallows and rounded +out a nest with her side. There she left hundreds and hundreds of +tough, elastic shelled eggs, hardly half the size of peas. Before they +left the eggs to their fate, the parent fish would cover them over with +gravel so that the water could not wash them away. Out of so many, many +eggs, surely enough would hatch and survive to fill the river with +samlets. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE BIRTH OF AN ICE-BERG + + +Like all explorers, Sitka and his mother knew not what unexpected +dangers might lie in their pathway, as they turned their noses +Northward. But like all explorers, they thrilled at thought of the new +scenes they might enjoy. + +Their way lay first along the crest of the range,--the Northern +extension of that great mountain system which in California is called +the Sierra Nevada and in Oregon and Washington the Cascades and the +Selkirks. The same great upheavals of the earth’s crust, the same +glaciers and volcanoes, helped to build them all. + +In the tonic coolness of the high peaks, Sitka raced and rolled like +a puppy, plunging whoofing, into the soft snow, or coasting when the +crust was hard. For a little while this land of sternness, hardship +and hunger, smiled in the sunshine, and life was not so serious as it +had been, and would be again. With the abundance of food and exercise, +Sitka was growing fast. His muscles were as hard as iron. He could go +for miles over the mountain-sides without tiring. At the same time his +mother was teaching him a million things a polar bear should know about +the world in which soon he would have to make his living and defend +himself against the elements. + +They watched an Arctic fox to see how he caught the ptarmigan, those +brown and white grouse which are so abundant on the lower passes. These +wild hens of the Arctic, nesting in the snow banks, and gradually +changing their brown summer costumes for the white of winter, were not +so well hidden as they would be later, when their camouflage would be +complete. But try as he might, fat, clumsy Sitka could never creep up +on them as did the sly white Reynard. He could swim after his salmon +as the fox could not, but his mouth watered in vain for the ptarmigan. + +They gobbled down luscious fungi, those fan-shaped mushrooms that grow +on birch trees, and they browsed like cattle on the juicy grass that +had sprung up in the paths of snow-slides. All that was delightful. But +the cub shivered at the weird, laughing cry of the great Northern loon +that haunted the glacial lakes. + +He was fascinated, though, by the whistlers, (Arctic woodchucks), who +disappeared into their holes at his approach, peeking out at him, then +disappearing, peeking and disappearing, till Sitka was frantic with +the longing to catch one of them. But try as he might, he was never +quick enough for those little fellows. Their shrill, whistling calls +tantalized him on every side. + +They saw moose and mountain goats, porcupines who gnawed the spruce +trees without even bothering to look up at them, and ermine who swam +after their fish, twisting and turning as lithe as eels. They crossed +glaciers, leaping the crevices and coasting down the slopes of these +almost motionless rivers of ice. On and on they wandered, through the +shortening days, now cooled by gray clouds which brought flurries of +soft snow to the higher slopes. By September they had gales of wind, +with sleet and hailstones, and the clouds were constantly forming on +the mountain-tops and sinking lower and lower, till all the tundra +between the mountains and the sea lay hidden by gray fog. But Sitka +loved the coldness of it, dressed as he was in his thick white furs, +and he was the happiest little bear in all Alaska when at last Mother +White Bear told him they were now far enough North to return to the sea +in safety. + +How many hundreds of miles they had traveled they had no means of +knowing, but bears are tireless travelers, and polar bears are the most +tireless of all. The hardest was when they began following the rim +of one of the narrow ice-carved canyons, with its roaring river, and +innumerable falls that had to be circled about. But at last they came +out at a fiord of the sea. The wind of an icy rain was frosting the +gray-green waves of the great twenty-foot tide and blowing balls of the +scud into the tree-tops of the encircling woods. The air rang with the +cries of sea birds. Sitka leaped and frisked after the foam, glorying +in the salt smell of the sea. + +Further out, there were the great bergs growling and grinding against +one another and making great waves in the fiord. A distant glacier +cracked with a sound like thunder as a mammoth chunk of it broke +off and a new berg was born, to toss and splash and cause even more +excitement among the lashing waves. + +“Hurray!” whoofed Sitka. “This feels like home again.” And following +Mother White Bear, he plunged off the pink limestone cliff into the +water and started swimming with great, powerful strokes of his fore +paws. + +Had anyone told the cub as he frisked so exuberantly in his favorite +element that anything ugly and dangerous inhabited those winging +waves, he would not have believed it. And yet at that very moment--but +that is another chapter! + + + + +CHAPTER X + +MONSTERS OF THE SEA + + +On a sea ruffled to purple in the wind, Mother White bear, busy +catching fish, glimpsed three large black fins. + +Three piratical black fins, farther out at sea, approached like the +sails of so many fishing dories, all in a row. That, she knew, meant +orcas--killer whales! With a loud whoof she summoned Sitka to turn back +and make for shore. He responded with that swift obedience she had +taught him. But though he was swift, the orcas were swifter. But he was +not far from a high rock that jutted up out of shoal water. When he had +scrambled up beside his mother, his legs were trembling and his breath +quite gone. + +When the disappointed orcas had swum away again, their great black +fins rising from the curve of their backs, and the two white streaks +on their sides shouting a warning to those that could read it, Mother +White Bear was reminded of a battle she had once seen between an orca +and a cachalot, one of the giant sperm whales. Of course Sitka wanted +the story. + +“Fortunately,” said Mother White Bear, “cachalots never come as far +North as this. It was the time I drifted so far South on the ice that +I saw this battle. A cachalot mother had come to a quiet inlet off +the coast of Southern Alaska to rear her baby. It must have been an +exceptional case, for though I have heard of orcas going far South, I +never knew of but the one cachalot to come so far North. But a traveler +such as myself sees many an unusual happening.” + +“I’m going to be a traveler, too,” vowed Sitka. + +“You certainly will, if you grow up into a regular bear,” she agreed. +“But first you know that whales are mammals, like bears and dogs, and +nurse their babies.” + +“Honestly?” marvelled Sitka. + +“Yes. And the orca mother has a way of carrying her calf tucked behind +her left flipper, or as it were, in her left arm, and nursing it as +she lies floating on a quiet sea. Both she and her calf are cream +colored on their under sides, so that the fish below cannot see them so +plainly. For of course they live largely on fish. + +“She herself is content to eat the great, sluggish fish that live in +shallow seas, though she is also fond of seals, and I have seen her +devour one whole. The one I saw and I suppose they are all alike, was +lean and quick, and could dive and swim with marvelous agility. The +Eskimos would have found very little blubber on her. And unlike the +great, stupid, lubberly creatures you saw the Eskimos hunting, this +particular whale is a good fighter, as you shall see, and cunning too. +But with all this, she loves her calf.” + +“What happened?” begged Sitka impatiently. + +“I was watching from a cliff,” continued Mother White Bear. “First I +saw this cachalot mother nursing her calf under her left flipper, and +I was amazed that such a huge creature could be so gentle. For this +giant creature had a head nearly a third of her entire size, and she +could open her jaws till you and I could have found room to den up for +the winter right in her mouth. And that huge mouth was armed with teeth +that could have crunched you in one bite.” Sitka shuddered. + +“Then I saw a band of orcas coming. She saw them, too, and started out +to meet them, but it meant leaving her calf behind, and she turned back +to the little fellow, perhaps afraid that something might come by and +eat him while her back was turned. But if she stayed, the orcas would +get him. So she turned once more to meet their advancing front. Picture +that row of black fins coming all in a row! + +“Well, that cachalot just simply opened that huge mouth of hers and +snapped her jaws on the first orca she could reach, and the water +turned red around them!--The other orcas,--there were five of them in +that pack,--tried to swim around either side of her, at a good safe +distance, but she was so afraid they would reach her calf that she +chased them ferociously, without a thought for her own safety, and you +would have laughed to see these same orcas, these dread killer whales, +turning tail and admitting their defeat, five to one that they were! +But they would have stood not a chance with those great jaws of hers, +swift and fierce as the orcas were.” + +“Everything is afraid of something else, isn’t it, Mother?” said Sitka. + +“There is nothing I fear for myself save wolves,” said Mother White +Bear. + +“I am afraid of that Eskimo boy,” Sitka admitted. + +“And perhaps he is afraid of you.” + +“And of orcas?” the little bear surmised. + + Note--The Eskimos around Bering Sea believe that the killer whales are + wolves in sea form. They tell it that when the world was young the + wolves of the land used to enter the sea, changing their form as they + did so and becoming orcas. When they returned to land, they changed + back to wolves. To this day the little brown men fear the orca as the + wolf of the sea. + +A sweep of her paw and Mother White Bear had landed a shining fish, +which she proceeded to eat, bidding Sitka go catch one for himself. For +he needed practice. + +After they had both dined and slept, and felt ready to go on, they swam +about thirty miles fairly close to shore. A polar bear can swim forty +miles at a stretch if she has to. Sitka tired, and his mother allowed +him to tow himself along by her tail once in a while to rest him. And +again they caught fish and climbed aboard a floating ice pan to sleep +the lengthening night away. + +That was their program for many days,--swimming so close to shore that +they could see the ragged outline of the pointed green-black firs when +it was not too foggy. The thunder of the surf was in their ears, and +the taste of the bitter brine was in their nostrils, for the wind blew +the sea into foam. + +Then one day, their first sunny day in weeks, they came to the edge of +the pack ice. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +TOOTH AND FANG + + +The winter sun circled lower and lower about the horizon as the ice +packed more and more solidly in the bay. By the first of November it +was forty degrees below zero. But Sitka and his mother loved it. + +They had fed fat all fall, in preparation for their long winter sleep. +Then Sitka had grown amazingly. He could now swim under ice, if he had +to escape the lunge of some infuriated walrus, or he could fell a seal +with one blow of his powerful fore-arm. + +Now that they were back on the pack-ice, they often saw Unga, the +Eskimo boy who had tried to capture Sitka as a wee cub. Mother White +Bear could not forgive that escapade. Sometimes the boy tried to creep +up on the white cub when he was a little separated from his mother, +and the lad vowed to the boys of his village that the cub’s fur should +be his. + +The little Eskimo and his tribe lived on a peninsula that reached far +out into the polar sea, now all pack-ice, which rose in ridges like +the waves of the sea it covered. Their igloos were cunningly fashioned +of stone blocks into huts as round as bee-hives, and had to be entered +by stooping low through a winding tunnel, and finally getting down on +hands and knees. But once inside, they were as warm as the lamp of +blubber with its wick of moss could make it, and these hardy people +half hibernated comfortably enough through weather sixty below zero. + +Unga, like all Eskimos, had to make it his chief concern in life to +find enough to eat,--and he loved bear meat best of all. Second, he +had to have warm clothing, and warm bedding, or he would die. Bear fur +was his favorite blanket, and bearskin the material of which his tribe +fashioned their knickerbockers. After his fourteenth year he used to +join the bands who went out, for weeks and sometimes months at a time +in summer, taking skin tents on their dog sleds, in search of the great +white bears, and the half-human track of one of these in the snow, +plainly visible even in the blue moonlight of the Arctic dusk,--would +send a thrill of delight down Unga’s spine. The black eyes and nose +tip, which was all that could be seen of the snowy animals against the +snow, unless they moved, was the signal for setting the dogs on their +trail. But Sitka always had the presence of mind to run against the +wind, so that the dogs could not scent him. Most of the time he kept +well out at sea. + +When the ice lay shiny and free of snow, however, bears and Eskimos +alike used to go seal hunting in the famine of spring. That way, Sitka +and Unga often met. Their method of hunting was curiously alike, for +Unga tied fur to his feet and his tread was noiseless. As a seal would +come up to its breathing hole in the ice, a series of loud blowing +sounds meant that it was filling its lungs for a dive. At this time +the hunter boy or bear, could approach unheard. Between whiles he laid +low behind a furrow of the ice. If the seal took alarm, the boy, lying +flat on his stomach, would cunningly move his feet like seal’s hind +flippers and so deceive his intended victim. Sitka learned that trick +of him. Then would come the boy’s harpoon, or the bear’s harpooning +claws, thrust through the hole into the head of the disappearing seal. + +In their igloos these stubby, fur-clad little brown people, who were +Unga’s people, would spend the winter half starving and half feasting +on their occasional catch of seal or bear meat. Sitka often used to +see them racing through the twilight of the autumn day behind their +dog-sleds, the crackling of their whips echoing from the great bergs. + +The water, where it lay open, now shone blue-black under the long +night, and the seals remained somewhere below the ice-pack, save when +they came to poke their noses through their air-holes. Sitka found he +was just able to scramble through the larger air holes. + +One day the air was such a mist of falling flakes that Sitka and his +mother could not see two steps before them. The swirl and drift of +the on-coming blizzard fairly carried them off their feet. Then came +sharp ice spicules that filled the air blindingly and cut into their +nostrils. “It is high time we found a place to hibernate,” decided +Mother White Bear. But wander as they would, through the dark and the +drift, they could find neither cave nor shelter. Sitka grew terribly +sleepy, and would have curled up on the naked ice, but that his mother +insisted on keeping up the search for a few days longer. + +Then one day--the first warning came as a swirl of snow. In five +minutes the wind from the mountains had lifted them bodily and flung +them down on the ice. Nor would the on-coming storm allow them to rise +to their feet again, but blew them along, till, with a roar that +nearly split their eardrums, black darkness pressed upon them. In that +same instant they went over the edge of a fissure that cut a deep V in +the ice. + + Note--In the face of storms like these, Peary and other white + explorers (aided by the Eskimos) have sought to make their way into + our “farthest North.” + +Their fall was softened by the snow that filled the crevice, and +turning their misfortune into good, they welcomed the shelter it gave +them from the freezing wind, and huddled together till the storm should +have done its worst. The snow drifted in upon them, but the warmth +of their breathing kept a little air space melted about their faces. +But Mother White Bear knew better than to spend the winter in such a +dangerous place. + +Later they had a dreadful time scrambling up the slippery sides of +their prison, but they clung with their steel claws to every roughness +of the ice walls, and finally flung themselves over the edge. + +Another time it was the Eskimo village they unwittingly wandered into +in the storm. It was an igloo with its winding entrance tunnel against +which they had taken shelter, and within that igloo--as luck would +have it--lived the boy who had set his heart on having Sitka’s fur. + +When, three days later, the two bears were awakened by hearing a savage +snarling as the husky dogs began digging them out, they realized that +it was to be tooth and fang if they were to get out of the place alive. + +Savage as wolves were the great gray dogs of Unga’s father’s sledge +team. Savage and hungry!--And fond of bear meat!--It was a circle of +fangs they faced as they rose on their haunches to meet the foe. But +Sitka and Mother White Bear had fangs of their own, and what was more +to their advantage, each powerful fore-paw was armed with a set of +razor-sharp claws, and each fist could have felled any dog on whose +skull it could land a blow. + +Fortunately for the two bears, Unga was asleep in the igloo when the +trouble started. “Snap!” went the jaws of the foremost husky dog, the +leader of the team, a savage brute, half wolf.--Sitka’s paw barely +escaped. Then “swish” went Sitka’s right fore-paw, ripping the husky’s +side in a long red gash. “Snap!” “Snap!” “Swish!” raged the combat, the +two bears just holding their own against a semicircle of five huskies. +Mother White Bear could handle four to Sitka’s one. + +It all happened in a twinkling. Then just as Mother White Bear gave the +cub the signal to make a dash with her for the open, on came two more +huskies who had broken loose from a team that stood harnessed within +sound of the rumpus. + +“Slash! slash!” went Mother White Bear, sending the two new dogs +howling. “Biff, biff, biff!” and she had keeled over three more of her +foes. “Slash!” went Sitka, nearly finishing another of the huskies. +Just as he wheeled to follow his mother, Unga appeared at the door of +the tunnel, bone-tipped spear in hand. “Biff!” went Sitka, whirling +like a spinning top, just happening to knock the spear out of his +enemy’s hand. + +In that instant of time, Mother White Bear had disappeared, doubling +and dodging through the igloos with one dog nipping at her heels. +Sitka sped frantically to one side, knowing nothing of where he was +headed. By one of those chances, so-called, that sometimes happen, he +came to a seal hole. It was a tight squeeze, but he just managed to +dive through it before two of the huskies he had wounded would have +been upon him. + +It was the cache of the white explorers that finally reunited Sitka, +the little white bear, and his mother. + +The ship of the white men lay frozen fast in the harbor, till Spring +should once more come to the Arctic Circle; and two weeks travel by +dog-sled, a ton of dried salmon to be fed to their sledge dogs lay +beneath a rock pile. But though the fish lay hidden beneath rock and +ice and snow, it was not hidden from the sharp noses of Sitka and +Mother White Bear. No sooner had the great storm subsided than those +noses, which peopled the Alaskan world with a million odors no human +being could detect,--those wonderful noses of theirs caught the odor +of that salmon. And my! how they clawed away the rocks with their +powerful claws, and my! how they feasted! Their furry white sides +fairly stuck out before they had finished. Though it was time for their +long winter sleep, they could keep alive on that through all the bitter +polar night. It was a rare piece of good fortune for the two travelers. + +After that they found a cave in the ice, tiny, but snug, and large +enough for the pair of them to curl up together comfortably. + +In the spring Sitka discovered that he had grown enormously while he +slept. He could now tease the old bull walruses to his heart’s content, +mischievously stealing their clams every time their clumsy backs were +turned, with no fear of being overtaken and punished. + +He even caught himself a bellowing walrus calf for dinner. Life would +no longer be so serious to young Sitka, for there remained absolutely +nothing in all the seas that he feared. + +Of course, on land, there were the fierce Arctic wolves and the wolfish +husky dogs. But he had little intention of going near either of these. + +He feared neither cold nor darkness now, nor anything in all that white +world save one living creature. He remembered the Eskimo lad with his +spear, and his strange way of walking on his hind legs and wearing +other animals’ fur, and him he did fear when next they met, with such +a fear when again the boy pursued him that the little bear ran for his +life. + +Mother White Bear finally decided that they should spend the summer +far out at sea. They could ramble over the ice floes as far as Bering +Strait, catching fish along the way and keeping a sharp eye out for any +such delicacy as a chunk of whale blubber left behind at the Eskimo +hunting grounds. + +As the sun circled higher and higher, they began to come across bird +colonies on the rocky islets,--auks sitting in prim rows along the edge +of the cliffs, gulls robbing the little puffins, with a clamor of +their shrill “ka-ka-ka,” of their catch of herring, sometimes the auks +robbing the nesting gulls of their one precious egg. Again the pirate +skuas darted hawklike to rob the auks of their one precious egg. It was +a hard land, and bird and beast were hard of heart, for it was a bitter +struggle just to keep alive. + +Sitka and his mother had fine times breakfasting on birds’ eggs. + +How the little white bear loved the thunder of the surf, the crackle of +floes breaking from the ice-fields, and the roar of ice-berg grinding +against berg! + +He loved the gray fog and the smell of the bitter brine, and the sleety +rain of which they had so much. In his warm white furs he would have +found sunshine uncomfortable. He enjoyed this trip better than their +accidental visit of the summer before on the South-floating berg. + +Never did he tire of staring at the Auroras, and the glaciers glowing +with the reflection of the stars. + +Later in the summer Mother White Bear became acquainted with a handsome +great nine-foot polar bear who was a champion in several ways. He could +swim forty miles through the icy seas, and he had come off victorious +in many a battle with wolves and Eskimos. As the long daylight warmed +the air, they two used to go on long fishing trips, leaving Sitka +behind,--though the first thing that youngster knew, he was so big +and self-reliant that he really preferred to explore the ice floes by +himself. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +“LET THERE BE PEACE” + + +Once the next fall Sitka again met the Eskimo, who again pursued him +with his spear. This time the little bear made a great dive into the +sea and swam to safety under water. + +But apparently the little brown boy was determined to have his +hide,--as determined as the little white bear was to keep it. For Unga +had boasted in his village that he meant to get that bear. He had vowed +to have Sitka’s great fur coat. + +The next year, when Sitka had grown larger still, and Mother White Bear +was too busy with his new little brother to pay him any attention, the +Eskimo nicked his ear with his bone-pointed spear. After that he knew +him by that nicked ear. The year after he grazed Sitka’s side, and +Sitka turned and pursued him angrily, as determined now to get the boy +as the boy was to get the bear. + +Year after year went by, while Sitka grew into a huge white monster, +and Unga developed into a lithe little brown-faced man clad in the fur +of his kill. And it came to pass that the Eskimo’s one great desire +was to carry Sitka’s pelt to his igloo and deliver his boast to the +admiring eyes of his village. And Sitka knew that the Eskimo youth +would never leave him in peace while they both should live. + +One autumn when Sitka was ten years old and the Eskimo twenty, they had +both gone far inland over the Arctic barrens, and both for the same +reason, in the hope of securing some reindeer meat. As it happened, a +hoard of the great, white Arctic wolves had also followed the deer. + +One night Sitka stood gazing at the most wonderful Aurora he had ever +seen. Brilliant bars of light colored like the rainbow marched across +the Northern sky-line,--always from West to East. Suddenly across the +glowing North stalked a row of seven of the great white wolves. Failing +to find the reindeer, and seeing Sitka so far from his native seas, +they began circling toward him; and though the lone bear knew better +than to hope to fight off so many foes, and though he took to his heels +with all swiftness, the wolves were swifter, and soon he was baring +fang and claw to a circle of famished green eyes and slavering jaws. +Sitka reared himself on his great haunches, towering tall above them, +that he might sell his life dearly. + +But Unga had also seen the seven wolves, white against the ruddy sky. +And he had seen the great white bear prints, and knew that his old-time +foe was near. Now, he told himself with chagrin, the wolves would get +the bear, not he,--and he could never bring the great white pelt to his +village in the pride of his long-time boast. + +Like the flight of a falling star a bright idea shot into his head. He, +armed as he was with the musket the white men had given his father, +would fight the wolves off the bear! Then he would still have a chance, +some day, of getting the bear himself. + +With the fire-arm that spoke death from afar, he came running to meet +the wolves. With his musket that out-marvelled the sharpest spear he +brought down the foremost wolf. But the shot only wounded that great +beast, so white against the surrounding whiteness,--it did not stop +him long. The surprise of that gave the little brown man pause. A new +thought appalled him. Should his gun fail too often, might he not find +himself in danger? + +On came the ravening wolf pack, and back fell the Eskimo with his +weapon that here broke a leg and there caused the red blood to flow, +but did not stop the wolves. Soon Unga was standing back to back with +the great white bear, within the narrowing circle of their foes, aware +that not the bear’s life alone, but his own, lay largely in Sitka’s +fighting powers. + +But though the great bear unaided could not have felled so many foes, +who darted now on this side, now on that, under his guard in intent to +ham-string him, nor could the Eskimo alone have handled so many with +even the best of weapons, between them they put first one, then another +of the attacking hoard to rout. Where the great bear was taken at a +disadvantage, the Eskimo came to the rescue. Where the little brown man +would have been overwhelmed, the mailed white forearm of his furry foe +sent one more of their common foes to writhing in an agony of deep-cut +wounds. Now the leader wolf had turned the brunt of his ferocity on the +weaker animal, which was the man. But Unga’s musket, pointed close, +blew the old wolf’s head off. Then the next in leadership of the wolf +pack approached the bear, keen to dart under his mailed fist, that +guarded his vitals, and out again before punishment descended. But the +lightning swiftness of that mailed fist was aided by the roar of the +man-made weapon close at his head, and he was done for. + +All this while the little brown man recognized with amazement that for +himself as well as the bear it had become a matter of life and death. +They two stood back to back, comrades of battle, with Sitka, red-eyed +and furious, turning the tide of battle in his favor. And twin to the +thought, he also recognized that, were it not for his musket, the bear +would soon have been laid low on the snow instead of the mangled wolves. + +The bear also was bleeding, as was the little brown man, but both would +heal quickly, as the wounds were not deep. But the wolves lay dead at +their feet. + +The bear stood licking his wounds, while the Auroral curtain shot +beauty across the frozen sky, as if nothing but beauty could exist in +all the white Arctic world. Sitka was too blinded with blood to see +his remaining enemy,--his life-long enemy, more feared by far than the +wolves had ever been. Unga could have got him then. But he didn’t! + +He had fought side by side with this great furry fellow, with their two +lives in the balance. He had fought to save the bear, and the bear’s +good fight had saved his own life. They were fellow fighters! They had +fought together,--and won! + +It came to him then that he no longer wanted the pelt of the plucky +brute. He no longer cared to make it his boast in the village nor wear +it before his igloo. Why, he owed a debt of gratitude to that bear, and +the bear was already his in the sense that he had saved him. Besides, +the great white beast, whom he had watched from the days of his wee, +fat cub-hood,--this dumb brute who would now be so helpless against the +pointing of the man-made musket,--had he not fairly won his life and +freedom? + +“Do you go your way, and I will go mine,” he said in his heart, and by +some strange telepathy, Sitka in his heart understood. “Henceforth, let +there be peace between us!” + +The little brown man sped away into the Arctic night, to the East where +the reindeer herded, and Sitka shambled off toward the West, where the +fish of the sea never failed him. + + + + +FINNY-FOOT + +I. THE WATER PUPPY + + +Finny-Foot first opened his round, wondering eyes on a world of +sun-kissed waves, deep blue beneath a deep blue sky. + +The waves slapped in white foam against the rocks, and the sky foamed +with white wind clouds. The rocks were slippery with sea-weed, and +shone as sleek as the wet brown fur of the seals. Finny-Foot’s woolly +white coat, which is what Harbor Seal babies always wear their first +spring, made him look like just another of the fat white balls of foam +that the April wind tossed up and down the yellow sand of the beach. +But the gray gulls flying over-head knew, and called to one another to +see the new water puppy. + +His parents, like the aunts and uncles and grandfather of the little +colony, wore gray, like the ocean on a dull day, with spots of darker +gray. But the new young cousins were all white like Finny-Foot. + +In the beginning, while Mother Nature was still trying first one kind +of animal, and then another, to see which made the best pattern, these +water puppies had lived on land, and had outside ears like any other +dog, and four short legs on which to carry their fat, furry bodies. +Then their great-great-ever-so-great grand-parents had decided to live +on the rocks of the harbors up and down the sea-shore, where it would +be easier to catch the fish on which they lived. Of course then Mother +Nature changed their legs to “flippers” or fin-feet, so that it would +be easier for them to swim. That is why seals look so much like fish, +with their fore flippers for fins and their hind ones held together +like a tail. + +They bark like dogs, though, and those finny-looking fore-feet help +them to crawl about on land, as well as swim. Of course now that they +have become water animals, their ears are all covered with fur, so that +you might think they didn’t have any ears at all. But they can hear a +fish swim by, for all that. + +At first Finny-Foot cried when he was hungry, in a voice almost like +that of a human baby, and was nursed like any other puppy. Then he +learned to eat the tender young sea salmon that his mother caught for +him,--and the clams and scallops that she found and shelled for him. +It was a pleasant life. He had nothing to do but tumble about with the +other seal babies, or lie watching the gulls that circled back and +forth with the big, salt-smelling waves, singing in their hoarse voices +that sounded so like rusty hinges, and watching for fish they might +grab. + +One day, too, the whole sky seemed covered with a mammoth flock of +ducks, (Surf Scoters), who were going to Alaska for the summer, where +they would not find it so crowded when their young were hatched. For +hours the V-shaped flocks swept Northward in a gray-black cloud, +while the air rang with their musical whistle. Finny-Foot stared, his +puppy-like eyes round with wonder, but at last they all disappeared +into the blue distance. There must have been hundreds and thousands and +millions of them. How he wished he, too, might travel and see the world +beyond those rocks! He little dreamed how soon his wish was to come +true, nor in what an amazing fashion. + +His mother kept his oily fur sleek and shining, so that he could slide +through the water easily, and he had no trouble at all about learning +to swim. Soon he could catch a tiny fish in his jaws, if he swam after +it fast enough, and his fur turned gray in leopard-like spots. + +One day, though, these happy, quiet times came to a sudden end. At +first the only thing he noticed was a row of half a dozen long black +fins cutting through the waves, far out at sea. Swiftly the black fins +came nearer, then an up-toss of their heads showed the circling gulls a +row of mammoth jaws, armed with the most murderous-looking teeth. It +was a band of killer whales, and at the sight, every seal on the rocks +started swimming for shore as fast as he could go. + +Finny-Foot’s mother towed him with her when his strength gave out, and +so great was her fright that she never stopped till she had him far up +on the sandy beach, where the whales could not follow. Those of their +colony who were not swift enough got caught, and were devoured by the +fish-shaped monsters who were not fish, and whose ugly black sides bore +white patches that glistened in the sun. Each one had a fin on the +middle of his back that stuck straight up, so that you could see it a +long way off. It was that that had given them warning. + +All afternoon they waited on the beach. Then at last the row of black +fins headed out to sea, and it was deemed safe by Grandfather Seal to +return to the rocks and fish for supper. And to hear them barking under +the moon that night, watching the white foam blowing down the beach in +the wind, no one would have known the bloody fate that they had so +narrowly escaped. + +[Illustration: She never stopped till she had him on the sandy beach.] + +But the killer whales came back next day, and this time took them so +nearly by surprise that there was not time to swim to shore, and those +who could not scramble to the highest point of the highest rock were +swallowed whole. How they huddled together upon that high rock, while +the killers swam around and around them watching to see if one of +them would not fall off into the water where they could reach them! +Finny-Foot’s mother tucked him into a crevice and stood over him. No +use for his father, and the other fathers, even to put up a fight +against the killers. They wouldn’t have had a chance in the world. +But once more the whales swam back to sea, and this time they did not +return; for they, too, were on their way to Alaska, where they hoped to +catch the fur seals as they migrated Southward. + +One day that summer, when Finny-Foot’s mother and her neighbors felt +quite sure there were no killers about, (Grandfather had been watching +the sea all day with his big, round eyes), they decided to have a +picnic, and explore some rocks further out in Monterey Harbor, where +the painted boats of the fishermen pass. + +It proved to be a wonderful fishing-ground. Finny-Foot, forgetting his +mother’s command to stay close by her side, swam out to the dories, his +round eyes bulging with wonder at the way they pulled up their netfuls +of fish. Then he saw a big salmon that he wanted to catch. + +The fish made a sudden dive, and Finny-Foot, taking a deep breath, dove +after him. The next thing he knew, he was all tangled up in something. +Then he was lifted straight into the air, in the midst of a netful of +wriggling, flapping fish. + +“Father!” cried a black-eyed little boy. “See what I’ve caught! +Oo!--May I have it?” + + + + +II. PIETRO’S[2] PET + + +When Finny-Foot, the seal baby, found himself in the fisherman’s net, +he never once thought how easy it would be to catch one of the fish +wriggling all about him. + +[2] Note--Pronounce Pya tro. + +His first thought was surprise that he should be rising out of the +water against his will. Then he was afraid. He had never seen a human +being so close before. Sometimes he had barked, with the family group +on seal rocks, as people came to watch them from the beach. Then he +would swim to the other side of the rocks to wait till all was safe +once more. + +It was a boy of nine whose black eyes first spied Finny-Foot as the net +was emptied. “Pietro” his father called him. His cheeks were flushed +with the kiss of the California sun, and his black curls blew in the +breeze, as he stood bare-footed in the fishing-boat. This boy spoke +words that Finny-Foot, of course, could not understand. But he read the +kindness in his tones, and he felt the gentleness with which the boy +stroked his furry head, and he was no longer quite so frightened. + +The boy must have asked his father if he might have the seal for a pet, +because in another moment he was hugging him joyously, both arms tight +around him, while the fish squirmed at their feet, and the man and his +partner set sail for home. + +But though Finny-Foot was no longer so afraid of being killed and +eaten, as the killer whales would have eaten him, swallowing the little +fellow whole, he suddenly realized that he was a long way from home and +mother. Putting his fore flippers on Pietro’s shoulder, he began to +cry, and you would never believe how much it sounded like a human baby +crying for its mother. + +Pietro stroked his wet, oily, fishy-smelling fur, which was as soft as +a kitten’s, and tried to comfort him, but still the seal baby wailed +his loneliness. + +His mother heard him, too, and came swimming after the boat, her great +eyes questioning his round, frightened eyes, as he peered over Pietro’s +shoulder. But when he struggled to get free, the boy only held him the +tighter, and Pietro and the men had their eyes on the course ahead, for +the stiffening wind was carrying them along at a great rate. But she +followed as far as she could, then sadly gave it up and went back to +tell the colony what had happened. + +By and by it occurred to Pietro that his pet might be hungry, and he +offered him a little fish. Finny-Foot ate it eagerly, and the boy +laughed at his round, puppy-like head, and kitten-like whiskers, and +the clever fore fins that he had instead of arms. He looked like a +fish, in one way, too, with his hind flippers held back close together +like a tail. + +When they had landed at Fisherman’s Wharf and Pietro had carried the +pale, spotty-coated little fellow to the shack where the nets hung +drying, young Finny-Foot surprised the boy by walking across the +porch. It was a funny walk, but we will have to call it that, because +it certainly was not swimming. First the seal would raise himself on +his fore nippers, then draw himself forward, with a hump of his back. +Sometimes he used his hind flippers, and sometimes he kicked them +together straight up in the air. The other fishermen’s children greeted +this performance with shrieks of laughter; and they offered him fish +till Pietro had to put a stop to it, for fear Finny-Foot would over-eat. + +He got his mother’s wash-tub and filled it with sea water for his +strange visitor; then, with the help of some of his young neighbors, he +rolled a great rock up on the porch beside it, in the sunshine. There, +he felt, the little seal might feel at home. Then he hooked the screen +door on the inside, so that no one could get in to tease him. + +Finny-Foot was a tiny fellow. His mother had been only five feet long, +for she was a harbor or leopard seal, not a fur seal. Her tribe, an +old sailorman told Pietro, are found everywhere, from the Arctic Ocean +to South Carolina on the Atlantic side and Southern California on the +Pacific. All up and down the coast, this old sailor had seen harbor +seals, barking on the rocks and fishing on the sandy bars. He had heard +they even swam away up some of the big rivers and into the Great Lakes. +They have been seen off the coast of the British Isles, and as far away +as Japan. + +Finny-Foot soon learned to know the boy as his friend, and inside of +a week was genuinely fond of him. He loved to have Pietro stroke his +silky fur. He would come humping himself along to where the boy sat in +the sunshine, mending his father’s nets, and lay his round, white head +against his arm, and make a funny puppy-like sound that the boy came to +understand meant: “Please come and play with me!” + +Then Pietro would teach him to fetch and carry a stick, or some other +simple trick. He longed to try throwing the stick in the water for +Finny-Foot to retrieve, but he never felt quite sure that his odd pet +would swim back to him. + +An old seaman used to watch the seal at his antics. One day he offered +the boy a dollar for his pet. He said he wanted to take Finny-Foot on +board the whaling vessel for a mascot, to bring them luck. But the boy +would not part with him. + +The next day the old sailor offered him five dollars, but still Pietro +would not listen. His ship was to sail the next day at dawn, and the +boy heaved a sigh of relief when, with a final offer of seven dollars, +the old man said goodbye. The money would have meant needed clothes to +the fisherman’s boy, but he would not part with his pet. + +Then as Pietro was looking at a newspaper that someone had left on the +wharf, his eyes caught the picture of a troupe of trained seals rolling +barrels. They were to be in next week’s vaudeville show, and Pietro +resolved to find a way to see it. + + + + +III. THE TRAINED SEALS + + +“I’ve got a trained seal,” Pietro told the man at the ticket window, as +he stood on tip-toe to buy his seat. He had earned the quarter mending +a net for a neighbor on Fisherman’s Wharf. + +“What’s that?” demanded a sharp-eyed man behind him, who happened to be +the owner of the show. + +Pietro told him about Finny-Foot. + +“Where do you live?” the man asked, with a peculiar gleam in his eye. +But the boy was too over-awed by the mirrored magnificence of the +theatre to wonder at the question. + +The whole program, the usual vaudeville, entranced him. But when the +trained seals appeared, his heart thrilled with delight. The curtain +rose on a row of the clumsy fellows seated in a circle on up-turned +barrels, barking in chorus. + +First came a barrel-rolling contest, at which the audience applauded +mightily, as it is rare to see trained seals. Pietro assured himself +Finny-Foot did as well as the best of them. There was a trick seal who +was always hiding from the showman. There was a mother seal in trailing +skirts and plumed hat, holding her baby in her flappers. (The little +seal looked too cunning in his white bonnet and long dress). There +were other tricks, and every move the animals made, with their awkward +flappers, sent the audience into gales of laughter. There was even a +seal orchestra, which set Pietro wondering how they could hold their +violins. He could not see that both instrument and bow were tied in +place. The showman rewarded each performer with a fish, just as Pietro +did Finny-Foot. The big bull seal at the kettle drums would hammer away +with all his might till he saw the man approach, then he would open his +jaws for his fish and eat it, before again taking part in the symphony. + +But the thing everyone enjoyed the most was when a large glass tank +was drawn on the stage. On an up-standing rock in the middle lay three +seals, barking just as they might have off the shore of Monterey. The +showman threw in a fish, and all three dove for it. He threw them +another, and another, then a whole handful of small, silver-shining +fingerlings, and the seals dove again and again for them, bringing them +up in their jaws and holding them down with one flapper while they ate, +if they were too large to swallow whole. + +Pietro went home as proud as a peacock to think that his seal could do +tricks as good as those people paid to see. + +That evening, just as he had seated himself on the porch in the sunset +glow, with Finny-Foot scrambling awkwardly for his supper, the showman +appeared. + +“Now where is that seal?” he asked briskly. + +Finny-Foot was put through his paces, the boy proud and flattered by +the showman’s interest. + +“What will you take for him?” the man asked at last. “I need another +seal for my pyramid act.” + +“What’s that?” Pietro’s father called through the window. + +“I’ll give you five dollars for that seal,” said the showman, holding +out a green-back. + +“But I don’t want to sell him,” said Pietro promptly. + +“Better take it,” advised his father. “It will buy a new coat for +school.” + +“Do I have to, Father?” + +“As you please. It is your seal.” + +The showman added a dollar to the five in his hand. Pietro looked at +the money, then at his ragged jacket. Six dollars would mean a lot to +him. Then he looked down at Finny-Foot, whose round, puppy-like eyes +were fastened on his trustingly. He wondered if the showman was kind to +his seals. Then he remembered the whip he had snapped at them when they +were slow to obey a command. Besides, how could a seal be happy so far +from the ocean he loved? He remembered the old seal who lay all day on +the side-walk of the Cliff House beach. + +“No!” decided the fisherman’s boy. Nor did the offer of more money +change his mind. He only hugged his pet to his ragged coat and shook +his curly head. Nor could the showman persuade Pietro’s father to +interfere. + +After that the boy fell to thinking. Soon school would begin, and he +must have shoes. One bright morning he took Finny-Foot in his arms, +and made his way to the Ferry Building, where he sometimes earned a +dime carrying someone’s suitcase. He was followed by a troupe of small +boys and a dozen older people, who closed in about him in a circle +when he set the seal on the ground. Borrowing an empty barrel from +a man he knew at a fruit-stand, he began putting the seal through +his barrel-rolling trick. Then he passed his hat. Nickels, dimes and +pennies came pouring in,--mostly from the grown-up portion of his +audience. When the next ferry-boat landed, pouring a new audience into +the facade, he repeated his show. A third time he put Finny-Foot +through his paces, and then passed the hat. + +A policeman stopped him. It seemed that there were several reasons why +he could not give another show. But he had already earned enough money +to buy the new shoes. + +After that Pietro had to leave Finny-Foot shut up all day while he went +to school, and the young seal did not thrive. No longer would he caper +joyously after the fish that were thrown him. No longer did his fur +gleam velvety and his brown eyes shine. Pietro realized that a seal +does not belong on dry land. He needs to live on the rocks off-shore, +where he can dive for his dinner. Finny-Foot might even be homesick for +the other seals. The boy’s heart ached with pity. + +Then he had an idea! When Saturday came, he went with his father in the +fishing dory, and with them went Finny-Foot. + +They were not heading toward where Pietro had found his pet, but he +waited till he had scanned the water in every direction to make sure +there were no sharks, then he gave Finny-Foot one last pat on his +puppy-like head, and hugged him, and let him slip into the water. + +The young seal, joyous with the feel of the salt tide, and never once +thinking that he was leaving his friend, struck out for a point of +rock he could just see above the wave tops. His muscles were soft from +disuse,--but just let him reach those rocks, and rest awhile, and he +would see if he could not find his way home! + + + + +IV. FLAPPER THE FUR SEAL + + +It was “sink or swim” for Finny-Foot,--and it was a long swim to the +point of rock he had seen. + +He had almost given up, when the tide turned and carried him right +toward it. But where was his mother, and the others he had left? Here +was no sound of barking seals, though over on the yellow ribbon of +beach sand the wee sandpipers ran up and down with the waves, just as +they had at Monterey, and the gulls creaked and curveted overhead. + +“I want to go home!” wept Finny-Foot, in his voice like a human baby’s +wail. But the only answer he received was the slap of the waves against +his rock and the creak of gulls overhead. + +He caught a fish and ate it before he hid himself in a cranny of +the rocks to take a nap. He awoke to an ocean deep blue under the +California sun, and a cloudless sky that seemed to bend down to meet it +everywhere except where the beach met the never-ending waves with its +yellow sand dunes. He caught another fish, and took another nap, and +when he awoke this time he felt much better. + +He was just wondering if he could find Seal Rocks if he were to swim +along close to shore, when he spied the up-standing fins of a band of +killer whales. They were far out at sea, but he remembered what had +happened to the seal colony when the killers had pursued them, and for +days afterward he dared not make the venture. + +Then one morning, when the sea was calm, he sighted a big rock shining +black and wet, further down the coast, and swam for it. This rock was +even better for basking in the sunshine and diving for passing fish. +But it was not home, and Finny-Foot was even lonelier now than he had +been with Pietro. Again and again he started swimming further South, +where he seemed to feel that home ought to be. But always he saw +sharks, and had to hide himself behind the nearest rock. Sometimes, +too, after a long, tiring swim, he failed to find a good fishing ground +and had to go hungry to sleep. Then he came to another town, where he +was afraid to go too close to shore, and waited long days on a point of +rock that looked far out to sea. There were always plenty of fish, but +would he have to live all his life alone? + +One day he saw a sleek dark form swimming just off shore. Now +Finny-Foot’s own family, like all harbor seals the world over, were +gray spotted when full grown. But the newcomer was a rich dark brown +and ever so much larger. Still, Finny knew he was a seal by the way he +swam, and himself swam out to greet him. + +The visitor proved to be an Alaska fur seal, a young fellow who had +migrated South with the other fur seals, but who had been wounded +by a shark and had to go ashore till his wound was healed. He told +Finny-Foot of that land of ice and snow where his own colony made its +home. Finny-Foot decided that it must be the need of keeping warm so +near the North Pole that gave him such wonderful fur, for he would need +it there to keep him from freezing. + +There were millions of them where Flapper the Fur Seal came from. Every +spring, he said, they started North, after a winter along the coast +of Canada and as far South as Northern California. Often for days and +weeks at a time they had to swim through a sea that was beaten into +giant waves by the storm winds. Often rain and snow and sleet pommeled +the sea all about them, and the sky hung low and gray with clouds, +and they could hardly see for the gray fog that hung over everything. +Sometimes they had to dodge between drifting ice-bergs that roared and +cracked in the most terrific manner. Sometimes a storm would raise the +waves so high that they were nearly drowned. + +But at last, just in time for the short Alaskan summer, they would +reach the small, fog-hidden Pribilof Islands, where the mother seals, +hundreds of them together, would raise their babies. The fish are so +plentiful that the season is one long feast. + +The fur seal babies are a woolly black. And here the seal youngsters +would play like puppies, racing and tumbling about together with their +funny, awkward flappers, diving and swimming and leaping from the +water, all in the merriest way imaginable. + +But even there the killer whales pursued them. Then, too, there were +men who killed them for their fur, (Flapper said). There were great +white polar bears who tried to catch them, and Eskimos and Indians, +who kill them both for food and fur, so that a fur seal has to be +continually on the alert. + +But all this danger and hardship had made Flapper unusually well able +to take care of himself, and he thought that if Finny-Foot wanted to +come along, they ought to be able to keep out of harm’s way until they +found the little colony off Monterey. He himself, thought Flapper, +ought now to wait until he saw some band of migrants returning to +Alaska, and join them for the two thousand mile journey home. + +Finny-Foot invited him to join the colony at Monterey, but Flapper said +the warm climate was beginning to make him feel itchy in his heavy +furs, and if he did not find his people within a few days more, he was +going to swim back North by himself, at least as far as Canada. + +One curious thing he told Finny-Foot. Instead of each family having +just one mother, as harbor seals did, there in Alaska a family might +have a hundred mothers all bringing up their children on the same rocky +islet. But that was because of several reasons. First, so many things +happened to the more adventurous father seals, who had to fight off +intruders, that often there weren’t enough to go around. Then the bull +seal is so large, (four or five times as large as his mates), that he +can easily protect a whole colony of mothers and babies. + +Finny-Foot thought he would much prefer to have the kind of families +his own colony believed in. But then, of course, everything is so +different in Alaska, where it means a struggle just to keep alive, that +he supposed it must be necessary. + +One day he and Flapper had been playing together, Flapper leaping high +above the water in great, glistening curves that Finny-Foot could not +begin to imitate, when Flapper gave a bark of amazement. There, on a +cluster of rocks in a curving harbor, above which the gulls creaked +and curveted as they watched for fish, he could see a number of gray +objects moving awkwardly about or diving into the tide. + +“Look!” he urged Finny-Foot. “I’ll bet that’s your colony!” But the +little seal could not see. “Come on, let’s find out!” Flapper urged, +almost as glad as if it had been his own people that he had found. And +sure enough, there on the very rock on which Finny-Foot had spent his +babyhood, a snow white pup, he saw his gray spotted mother, all alone. + +Just at first she did not recognize him, for he had grown so large and +had turned gray spotted like herself. When she did realize that it was +her son, whom she had given up for gone, she barked so joyously that +every member of the colony came crowding around them, barking their +welcome to him. + + +(THE END.) + + + + +GLOSSARY + + + Aurora Borealis--Northern Lights. + + Bidarka--Eskimo canoe. + + Cache--A hiding-place for food supplies. + + Fiord--A narrow inlet of the sea between steep cliffs. + + Glacier--A river of slow-flowing ice. + + “Husky”--Alaskan wolf-dog. + + Ice Berg--A huge chunk of ice that has broken off a glacier and floats + in the sea. + + Ice Floe--A smaller chunk of ice. + + Ice Pan--The ice where the sea has frozen over. + + Igloo--Eskimo house. + + Lava--Molten rock from a volcano. + + Samlet--A young salmon. + + Tundra--Alaskan bog. + + Volcano--A mountain that spouts fire and lava. + + Zenith--The region of the North pole. + + + + + Transcriber's Notes: + + Italics are shown thus: _sloping_. + + Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained. + + Perceived typographical errors have been changed. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78351 *** |