Tales out of school

by Frank R. Stockton

A seal is a timid animal, but when brought to bay it can fight boldly and fiercely enough, and Polargno knew well that there was a chance of his coming to grief if he once began the combat. But then again the glory was so much the greater if he conquered.

He wished to wipe out the memory of his ridiculous adventure with the Arctic fox, which had brought upon him the laughter of the whole village, and was a joke against him to that very day.

These thoughts passed swiftly through his mind, and he made his determination. He cautiously paddled towards the seal, but this act alarmed the creature, and it sank into the water out of sight. Polargno knew it would come up again to breathe, and he uncoiled the harpoon line, and held the weapon all prepared to throw. Meantime the canoe drifted down to the very spot where the seal had sunk, and Polargno looked down into the deep green water, thinking he might see it coming up. But it rose in an entirely different place, on the other side of the boat, and at quite a distance. Polargno was by no means sure of his aim in making such a long throw; but, putting himself into the attitude he had seen experienced harpooners assume, he sent the harpoon whizzing through the air with a straight, steady motion that carried it with a wide sweeping curved line into the back of the seal, just above the tail.

Down into the water went the animal with a rush that made Polargno’s canoe reel and dance. If it had been a small whale, or even a sea-lion, that the boy had undertaken to capture in this fashion, it would have dragged down the canoe, harpoon, rope, and all, leaving to Polargno the pleasant task of swimming home and telling the news. But the seal was not quite strong enough for this, though it did its best; and, each time that it rose to the surface after “sounding,” Polargno wound the line tighter and tighter around the strong supports to which it was fastened. In this way he brought the seal nearer and nearer the canoe. By the time its strength was pretty well spent it had so short a line that it could dive only a few feet below the surface. And then Polargno began to wonder how he should get it to the shore when it was dead. It would be too heavy a body for him to manage alone, and there was no one in sight on the shore to whom he could call for help. He did not wish to cut the body adrift, for then he was not likely to get it again.

Suddenly there flashed into his mind a brilliant thought. The seal should take itself to the shore, and take him too! He seated himself firmly in the boat, and took up the paddle. With this he hit the seal a whack on the side, and, in darting away to the opposite direction from the blow, the animal headed for the shore. It could not dive, but it made a grand rush through the water, drawing the boat swiftly along. A few such rushes brought it to the shore. Whenever it made a turn to the right or left, the paddle reminded it to keep the straight path. Polargno had never heard of Neptune’s chariot with its dolphin steeds, and was therefore unconscious that he was working out a poetical idea, but he was very proud of the success of his stratagem, especially as it possessed an element of danger. If his charger had taken it into its head to back against the boat, and to give it a blow with its tail, it would have stove it in, and if it had given Polargno a whack at the same time it would probably have killed him. But the seal was too weak from loss of blood, or too ignorant to think of any such revenge, and rushed upon the beach at last, dragging Polargno’s boat up with such violence that he was shot out of it in a twinkling.

He fell upon the soft sand and was not hurt. When he stood upon his feet he found that his father, and one of the neighbors had come to the shore to look after the boats, and had witnessed the last part of his extraordinary journey. He was very glad of this, for he had thought his story would not be believed in the village.

The seal was soon killed, and yielded a good deal of oil and blubber.

After this, the people of the village looked upon Polargno as a very clever and brave fellow, and they laughed at him no more about the trick the fox had played him.

AFTER THEM CAME THE WHALING SHIPS.