The Secret of the Seal (4 page)

“He’s off seal hunting. He tried to wake you, but you slept as soundly as a baby. You
can follow him after you eat. He didn’t take his snowmobile, and he left good tracks in the snow that fell last night.”

Tracks! Kyo thought.
I
left tracks last night! He’ll see them.

Kyo jumped out of bed and pulled on his clothes.

“Can I take my breakfast with me, Mama? I want to go help my uncle. I don’t want to miss anything.” He made his eyes as big as he could, but he didn’t have to worry about convincing her.

“I’m glad you want to help him. It’s rare that we get to see Ahko.” She wrapped generous portions of breakfast in a clean towel, which Kyo stuffed into his parka.

“Goodbye!”

He ran out the door with his parka half open, pulling his mittens on his hands. He saw the tracks immediately: two sets of boots, big ones over little ones, following the path to Tooky’s hole.

Kyo started to run down the path but changed his mind, going to the snowmobile instead. He jumped on the seat and sat for a
moment, trying to remember how to start the engine. He turned the key, and the machine wheezed, coughed, and was silent. He tried again, and this time the whole thing shook and sputtered and growled—then was still. Kyo swung off the seat and kicked one of the runners.

“You have to start!” he shouted at the hulk of metal. Glancing at the house, Kyo saw Annawee’s face appear briefly in the window. Before she reached the door Kyo was back on the snowmobile seat, turning the key. This time he remembered to turn the throttle.

The engine burst into its loud growl. Annawee’s shouts were lost in the snowmobile roar as Kyo turned the throttle more and the machine lurched forward, pulling the sledge and cage away from the house and toward the great ice.

The world flew by. Thrilled by the speed, Kyo forgot for a moment that there was any danger, either to himself or to his friend at the end of the path. Rounding a
protruding slab of ice, Kyo felt the machine lift slightly off one runner. Scared that he might tip over, he slowed down a little.

George came into view. He was thrusting a pick into Tooky’s old breathing hole to reopen it. Stunned by George’s action and feeling helpless to stop him, Kyo let the snowmobile slide to a halt.

George finished hacking at the ice and looked up. He waved to Kyo, stepped back from the reopened hole, and picked up his rifle. Kyo jumped down and ran toward George, hoping that Tooky would not appear.

Just then her round head popped up in the hole.

“Don’t come up!” Kyo tried to yell, but the words caught in his throat. Tooky slid onto the ice and began her awkward lope toward the boy.

“No!” he cried, and she stopped, confused. George lifted his gun and the movement caught the seal’s eye. She whirled and bobbed quickly toward the hole.

George fired, dropped the gun, and raced toward the seal, who continued toward her escape, slowing as she reached it. George dove onto the ice and grabbed her tail just as her head dipped into the water.

“Kyo!” he yelled. “Come and help me pull her out! She’ll die if she falls in.”

Kyo reached them just seconds later. Together he and his uncle heaved and pulled the heavy, limp animal safely onto the ice.

Kyo sank down beside the still form.

“Whew! That was close!” panted George. He too sat down beside the seal.

“She looks dead.”

“Oh, no, Kyo. Remember, I told you that the darts only put the seal to sleep for a few hours. She hasn’t been hurt at all.”

Kyo wiped his eyes and nose on his sleeve. George glanced at the snowmobile and back to Kyo.

“You sure surprised me when you came flying down here on my machine. But then I could tell you were a smart boy. You learned quickly how to drive it.”

Kyo was silent. He stared down at Tooky, wishing she would jump up and dive into the water before anyone could stop her.

“I’m not angry that you drove the snowmobile out here, Kyo. That was quick thinking. I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt. You knew I’d find a seal here, didn’t you? Or is there another boy with boots your size who walks out here often, sometimes with only the moon to light his way?”

Kyo ignored his uncle, who stood up and went to retrieve the gun. Kyo put his ear against Tooky and listened for her heartbeat. It was strong and even. Then he put his ear to her nose and felt her warm breath.

Satisfied that the seal was alive, Kyo sat up, his thoughts racing. He was afraid to tell his uncle that Tooky was a friend. George would never believe him. He would laugh at him or, worse, tell his parents and they would all have a good laugh at him during supper that night.

“Animals have a hard life,” George had told him the day before. “They have to fight
and struggle to survive.” Maybe Tooky would be better off in the zoo after all, Kyo thought. Maybe she’d like having fish handed to her every day. Maybe fish are hard to find on her own. He wished he could just ask her, but he knew that even awake she could not answer him.

George drove the snowmobile up close to the seal, parking the cage beside her. “Give me a hand with her—say, Kyo, how did you know this seal was a female?”

“I’ve seen her before,” Kyo said quietly. “And I won’t help you put her in your rotten cage!” Kyo turned and ran off, away from his uncle and the sleeping seal and the settlement.

Shaking his head, George gently maneuvered the heavy seal into the cage. Then he started the engine and drove carefully back to the house.

K
yo walked in a wide circle that took him far out on the ice, then inland to the base of the mountains. He found a sunny spot out of the wind and sat down, took out his knife and stone, and began to carve.

Near dusk he stood up, stretched his legs, and started to climb. Stopping partway up the slope to catch his breath, he turned and faced the valley below. He picked out his own house among the others, all dark against the graying terrain. The snowmobile was parked near the house and George’s figure moved beside it.

A shadow passed over Kyo, and he looked up to see a great snowy owl glide over
his head. The huge bird’s outspread wings beat slowly and firmly against the evening air.

Suddenly it dropped to the snow, talons first, then quickly lifted off with a small, white ball of fur wriggling in its grasp. The owl had caught its prey. It would eat that night.

Kyo realized he was hungry, too. Hours ago he’d consumed the food his mother had packed for him. He started down the mountainside.

A loud clamor of barking dogs greeted Kyo as he approached his home. He saw Tooky lying still in the cage. He hung his fingers on the wire and leaned his face against it.

George came out of the house just as Kyo turned to go inside. He mumbled a greeting to his uncle and brushed by him.

Annawee sat in her favorite chair, a kerosene lamp glowing on either side of her, needle in hand, cloth heaped in her lap. Kudlah sat bent over a snowshoe frame, weaving narrow strips of leather, pulling
them taut and securing them to the frame. They both looked up as Kyo came in and watched him slowly remove his parka.

“You look troubled, Kyo,” said his father.

“I’m sad,” he said, nodding. “And hungry.”

Kudlah put down the snowshoe and went to the stove, where he ladled steaming soup into a bowl and set it on the table for the tired boy. He sat at the table with Kyo and watched him pour spoonfuls of soup into his mouth without pause. When the bowl was empty, Kyo asked for more. “Just half a bowl, please.” Kudlah filled it and sat down again. When that was gone, too, Kyo pushed away the bowl and looked at his father.

“I saw a big white owl on the mountainside catch a mouse for its supper and I didn’t feel sad. I was happy for the owl because it flew so smoothly and had no other way to get food.” He stopped, but Kudlah just waited. Annawee had set down her needle. Her hands lay still in her lap.

“My uncle was happy to catch the seal today, but I’m not pleased for him at all. He says she’ll be happier when someone gives her fish every day, but I wonder if she doesn’t like to swim fast and catch her own?”

No one spoke, and no one laughed.

“I’ve never seen a seal swim under water, but they sure are clumsy on land. They’re really made to swim, aren’t they? I bet they’re graceful in the sea, like this!” Kyo picked up his spoon and made it swoop through the air.

“
Whoosh … whoosh … whoosh!
”

The door opened and George walked in, head hanging. Kudlah filled another bowl with soup and set it on the table for his brother-in-law. “Come eat, George. You must be hungry. Are you ready for the long trip back to the city tomorrow?”

George washed his hands and sat down heavily beside Kyo. “I am ready,” he replied. “But the seal is not. She should have awakened by now. Something went wrong. She is dead.”

K
yo jumped up and ran outside without stopping to put on his parka. The others stayed seated.

His heart pounding, Kyo unfastened the door to the cage and crawled inside, moving carefully around his friend. He bent to feel her breath on his ear. Nothing. He listened for a heartbeat and heard it, a little sluggish but steady.

Then he tilted his head again for a breath. It seemed like forever before he felt a gentle tickle against his skin. He waited, stock still, until he felt it again.

Sighing with relief, Kyo leaned back, stroking Tooky’s head.

“Why won’t you wake up?” He spoke to her still form. “I don’t know how to help you, but first I want to get you out of this cage.”

Kyo crawled out and stalked into the house.

“She isn’t dead,” he announced to the waiting adults, who looked surprised.

“Kyo,” George said gently, “I know you’re upset about this. But she isn’t breathing—”

“She is, too!” Kyo interrupted. “You just have to be patient. You don’t understand seals! Sometimes they don’t breathe when they sleep. But she
will
wake up!” His voice shook, a little unsure, but he rushed on. “You have to help me move her. She will feel better when she’s near the water.”

“You have seen this animal before, Kyo?” asked Kudlah.

Kyo nodded his head.

“And she lets you get so close that you can watch how she breathes?”

“Yes.” Kyo spoke quietly.

Kudlah wrinkled his brow pensively, then stood up.

“If the seal is dead, George, she’ll be of no use to us. Her meat will be spoiled by the drug in your darts, and we must throw her back in the bay.

“And if she is alive”—he looked at Kyo—“perhaps the boy can wake her up.”

Kudlah put on his parka and boots and left the house.

Annawee put aside her sewing and also got ready to go outside. George sat with his elbows on the table, head in his hands.

“Ahko!” Annawee spoke sharply to her brother. “Let us do what Kudlah says.” George got up slowly and followed the others outside.

In the light of the rising moon the seal did indeed look dead. “We’re going to help you now, Tooky,” Kyo whispered through the wire.

As George climbed on the snowmobile, Kyo said to his father, “I want to move her with the dog team.”

“All right,” agreed Kudlah.

With four of them working, the sledge was unharnessed from the snowmobile and hitched up to the dogs in no time. Kudlah handed the traces to his son.

“You know how to do this, Kyo. George, here is your chance for a dogsled ride.”