Kirk Munroe

“ Phil! Wake up!” he cried, in a low tone, at the same time shaking his drowsy comrade. “There are men outside! A lot of them! And I hear something that sounds like escaping steam.”
“Oh, you must be dreaming!” replied the other, incredulously. “No, I declare you are right, for I hear them myself!”
With this both lads sprang to their feet and rushed outside. The sight that met their astonished gaze was that of a number of men busily engaged in tearing down the stone walls of the old hut in which the seal-skins were stored. ”

“ To Jalap Coombs, however, these successive disasters seemed only to lend an access of cheerfulness and activity. Rushing into the ravenous waters, he snatched from them the boat’s mast and sail, the long-handled gaff, a couple of oars, a coil of line, and some loose bits of rope.
“Don’t ye be cast down, lads!” he cried, cheerily, after this had been accomplished, and the three stood together on the beach. “We’ve more to be thankful for than to grieve over. We’ve lost our boat, to be sure; but it’s a marcy it brung us safe to shore as it did. ”

“ If the tiniest bit of a fire is lighted to windward of him, even miles away, he will scent it and be off. If a man walks on a beach, many tides must wash out the scent of his footsteps before a sea-otter will approach that place. So when the wind is off shore the hunters have to go without fire, even for cooking, in winter as well as in summer, sometimes for weeks at a time. Then, too, the sea-otter never really comes ashore, but spends most of his time in the water among the great kelp-beds that you have seen floating in the North Pacific. Even their young are born in those floating cradles. ”

“ So strongly did the gale blow by the time the day was half spent, and with such prodigious leapings did the light boat spring from crest to crest of the leaden seas, that every ounce of Jalap Coombs’s strength and every atom of his skill were necessary to her safe steering and to keeping her from being swamped. While he stood up in the stern in order to get a better purchase on his long steering-oar, the lads, crouched in the boat’s bottom amidship in order to steady her as much as possible, were obliged to devote most of their time to bailing. ”

“ At the same time Serge was the hero of the forecastle, where the mate’s crew, and Phil in particular, were praised to the full content of the young boat-puller.
For ten days longer this exciting business of seal-hunting on the high seas was continued, with varying success and in all kinds of weather. Occasionally a day, or at least part of one, would be fair and bright, but more often the sun was hidden by fog-banks or low-hanging clouds, while snarling squalls of wind and rain swept above the sullen waters. ”

“ Before sleep overpowers me I will wake you, and so we will keep watch by turn as best we may.”
“What shall we watch for?” asked Phil, in a hopeless tone.
“For the vessel that is to pick us up, to be sure,” replied Serge.
The former uttered a bitter little laugh, as he said: “Then we might as well watch with our eyes shut. There is no wind to move a sailing-vessel, even if there were one in all this great awful sea, which I doubt. As for a steamer, she would have to pass within fifty feet before any one aboard could either see or hear us. ”

“ Help! Don’t leave us! Help! Help!” yelled Phil and Serge, wild with excitement, hope, and fear. At the same time they tried with desperate [245] energy to paddle after the vision of safety that had so suddenly come to them, and now seemed about to disappear as mysteriously as it had come. It did indeed glide out of sight in the all-enshrouding fog; but ere they lost hearing of the many sounds now arising from it, a ship’s boat, manned by lusty oarsmen who uttered cheery shouts of encouragement, shot out of the mist and, guided by the voices of the lads, came towards them. ”

“ Ramey, who had obtained permission to go ashore with his beloved camera, for which he hoped to find sunlight enough after a while, went in the boat with Captain Matthews and the lads.
As it approached the shore and the fog began to lift, both Phil and Serge uttered exclamations of amazement. To the left, as far as the eye could reach, literally covering the land, apparently ranged in platoons, companies, regiments, and armies, were the seals in countless myriads, an incredible mass of animal life. ”

“ It was a real pleasure now to watch the seals, that began to appear when the cutter was fifty miles north of Oonimak, and which increased in numbers as the day wore on. They exhibited very little fear even of the steamer, but would gaze curiously at her until they deemed her too near for their own safety, when they would suddenly sink out of sight and dart away like a flash.
“I never tire of watching the dear things,” said May Matthews, as she and Phil stood together in the narrow space just in front of the pilot-house. ”

“ While they talked, the three drenched and shivering castaways walked briskly up the beach, through a broad belt of golden-green moss, crossed a little stream of fresh water, from which they drank eagerly, and finally reached a wind-swept plateau overlooking both the sea and the mad waters of Krenitzin Strait. Here they found the ruins of many ancient dwellings huddled closely together, and marking the site of a once populous Aleutian settlement. ”

“ Although the mate and the two lads knew that Oonimak Island had not been inhabited for many years, they could not help expecting to see human forms emerge from some of the ancient dwellings, and fancying that in the shriek of the wind over the roofless structures they heard despairing human voices.
Phil and Serge had never been there before, but Jalap Coombs had, though only in the night-time, and he pointed out the ruin that stood nearest the beach as the one containing the cache of seal-skins. ”

“ So they are, and for that reason they can only be approached at night, when they are asleep on the beach, and then only by exercise of the utmost caution. The hunters creep along the beach, among its many bowlders, on all-fours, until they are between the herd and the water. Then they jump up with waving arms and a wild yelling that frightens the sea-lions almost out of their senses. Those that have been asleep, with their noses pointed towards the sea, rush into the water with such force that nothing could stop them, and so escape. ”

“ A dozen fat little birds that he had trapped were nicely cleaned and spitted ready for cooking, while the bill of fare was completed by smoked halibut and thin strips of bear meat.
“Well!” cried Phil, as he sat down to this bountiful meal. “If there is anything finer than this in Alaska, then I don’t want to see it, that’s all. To think of having biscuit—actually hot biscuit—baked on a piece of tin, too! Serge, you are a genius! A genuine out-and-out genius! And if my aunt Ruth could see this lay-out I really think she would turn green with envy. ”

“ Now, a large portion of it, including the beach, was staked out, a landing of log crib-work filled with rocks projected into the water, two rough board shanties and a dozen tents had been erected, camp-fires were blazing cheerily, and the sturdy colonists of this new settlement were busily eating their well-earned breakfasts.
In all this work Phil and Serge had displayed such willingness and activity as to draw forth the hearty approval of Gerald Hamer. ”

“ He is more than twice as large as the fur-seal, but, like the latter, is a fearless swimmer, and delights to sport in the heaviest seas at the very point where they break and hurl themselves against a rock-bound coast. Like the seal, too, the sea-lion loves to haul itself from the water, and, climbing the most rugged rocks, lie and bask for hours.
Realizing the difficulty as well as the importance of obtaining a sea-lion, as food was becoming scarce in camp, Kooga took Phil with him on this hunt, in the hope that the lad might be induced to make some of his marvellous shots. ”

“ When the steamer Norsk left the harbor of Oonalaska, on the very day that Mr. John Ryder took lunch with her captain, she carried with her the fur-seal’s tooth. Japonski, the table-boy, had listened with avaricious ears to the story of its value. He hoped soon to go to Sitka himself, for he had a brother there, employed as wardroom boy on an American man-of-war. How well it would be to have one thousand of those big American dollars to show to him and to spend! Japonski’s brother had laughed when he sailed on the Norsk, and told him that not many yen could be picked up in the merchant-service. ”

“ They are killing-clubs, and are made on purpose for this work in your own town.”
“Not New London, Connecticut!”
“That’s the very place.”
“But why do you call them killing-clubs? Surely they don’t beat the poor brutes to death with those things.”
“Not exactly. But they kill them with a single blow on the head, and then cut their throats.”
“What a barbarous way!” cried Phil, indignantly.
“Oh no,” replied the teacher. “It may seem so to you, but it really is not. The seal’s skull is so thin that a heavy blow crushes it and kills him instantly.” ”

“ The hunter sat or stood in the bows forward of the mast, where he could have an unobstructed view ahead and on both sides. He was provided with both a rifle and a shot-gun, one or the other of which was always in his hands ready for instant use. He also carried a plentiful supply of cartridges.
The boat-puller sat amidship, and rowed or trimmed sail as occasion might demand; while the steersman, occupying the stern, not only steered the boat, but kept careful note of the courses taken by means of his compass, and of weather indications. He of course is always an experienced sailor. ”

“ I thought we lost our interest in seal-skins some time ago,” said Phil, bitterly.
“Seal-meat would save us from starving.”
“How could we cook it?”
“We couldn’t,” replied Serge, significantly.
“Well, I must confess that I’m hungry, but I don’t think I care to eat raw seal-meat just yet. I say, old man, do you suppose two fellows ever had such an unlucky trip as ours? We seem to have jumped from one trouble into another ever since we started.”
“And this is the worst of all,” answered Serge, despondently.
“Yes, I suppose it is; and starving to death does seem a very dreadful way of dying. ”

“ Under circumstances such as those in which the occupants of the little bidarkie found themselves, there is no sound more depressing and awe-inspiring than this, nor one that conveys more clearly an idea of the immensity and terror of oceans. When it is accompanied by darkness and fog, the effect is so heightened as to be wellnigh unbearable.
As our lads listened to it and felt the chill breath of the wind-driven mist on their cheeks, they shivered, and a great fear began to creep into their hearts.
“This won’t do!” cried Phil. “We must keep at work or we’ll never get there. ”

“ When, an hour later, supper was served aboard the schooner, the lads ate theirs together on deck. Then when Serge was relieved from watch, Phil crept into the narrow forecastle bunk with him, and they shared it together for the rest of the night.
While our lad was not willing to trust himself within reach of Captain Duff’s arm during the hours of darkness, he was so ready to defy him by daylight that in the morning he returned to the cabin for breakfast, during which meal both he and his table companions, including the captain, preserved an unbroken silence. ”

“ For a solid week did the tempest rage with unabated fury, and long before the end of that time they were wearied almost beyond endurance with their enforced inaction and monotonous diet. To Phil in particular did the salmon and crabs, that he had thought so good on that first night, grow so distasteful that it became almost impossible for him to swallow the hated food.
During those seven long, weary days they only left the hut when forced to do so to obtain food, wood, or water. Serge went as far as the wreck of their boat, where he obtained several oak ribs and half a dozen nails. ”

“ For my own part, I can’t see any more harm in killing one of those seals than in killing a sheep; but then I’m very practical and haven’t a bit of sentiment.”
Looking quickly up and with crimsoned face, Phil recognized his first acquaintance of that morning; but before he could utter the retort that sprang to his lips, his companion said, quietly:
“Then I, for one, am sorry for you, Mr. Ramey; for it does not seem to me that people who are merely practical get the fullest enjoyment out of life.” ”

“ A wild yell announces the discovery; the hunted animal again dives; another bidarkie, with uplifted paddle, marks the spot, and again the circle is formed. Thus the unfortunate otter, coming to the surface at shorter and shorter intervals, is made to dive and dive again, never being allowed to draw a full breath, until at the end of two or three hours he floats on the surface completely exhausted, and falls an easy victim to the nearest spear.
To an uninterested observer it is a pitiful sight to see a defenceless and harmless creature thus hunted to its death. ”

“ In the meantime seals were gambolling about the boat on all sides, and gazing fearlessly at them from the wave crests raised by a rapidly freshening breeze, while the distant sounds of rapid firing told of the work being performed by the other hunters. The occupants of the mate’s boat talked in low tones of their situation and its possible results, while their craft drifted with the wind for nearly an hour. ”