"Oh, well, in that case," replied Barred Seal, smiling, "there is still the wild, free ocean to live in as always."
"Not for me!" said Little White Fox, turning white in the face and losing his appetite all at once. "How can I get out of here?"
"You don't want to go so soon," answered Barred Seal. "Stay with me awhile. I rather like you. And, as you see, we have plenty of good fish to eat."
"I thank you," said Little White Fox very politely, "but I'd very much rather go back home." And at that moment he had a frightful vision of all that ice going out, out to sea.
"Very well," said Barred Seal, "I'll go in the water and stand on my tail; then you can climb out on my back. Only don't dig in your toe nails."
In another moment Little White Fox was out in the bright sunshine, and you may be very sure he was glad to be there. "I guess the world was made about right," he said to himself. "And I am glad the hills, the tundra, and my own little home are just as they are, and I am glad I am Little White Fox."