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CHAPTER XIII
NANOOK!
That night in Jones Sound, after getting the walrus, was very beautiful. There was a great big full moon and a very pink and golden sunset. The sun really went down that night, although of course it stayed quite light. And it was the first time we had seen the moon for a long time. Both the sunset and the moon, one in the west, the other in the east, lasted all the night, reflected over a very thin coat of silvery new ice.
Dad and I stayed up all night. Dad shot a bearded seal on a pan, a pretty good shot getting him right through the head. Then Ralph got out on the pan and put a strap [[136]]around the seal and we hoisted him on board with a burton and were off again. A little while later we saw another big one on a pan and Dad tried a long shot and missed, shooting high. On the second shot he hit him, but the seal wriggled off and came to the surface in a few minutes. Dan and Dad went out in the skiff and tried to get him but they would go close to the place where he was and he would go down and come up at another place. There was no use shooting him unless they got close enough to put a seal hook in him, for he would just sink.
Enough for Several Fine Duck Messes.
After a while they gave up and started back. Then three seal came right up near them, popping out of the water to see what it was all about. But they dodged back too quick for a shot.