What was Little White Fox to do? He could not swim very far, and it was a long way to land; in fact, he could not see any land at all. Besides, the water was very, very cold. He couldn't think of a thing to do. He just curled up in a heap and shivered and shivered and shivered, he was so lonesome and frightened.
"Hello!" shouted Tusks the Walrus, sticking his head out of the water. He looked and looked. "That's strange," he said to himself. "I thought I saw Little White Fox over here on a piece of the ocean's roof. Guess not, though. I don't see him now." And away he swam for a frolic with one of his cousins.
Big White Bear popped right up out of the ocean! Page [119]
"Hello!" cried Little Brown Seal, turning a somersault in the water. When he turned the somersault, he looked at the piece of the ocean's roof. "My! My!" he sighed. "These eyes of mine must be getting very bad indeed! I thought I saw Little White Fox on that piece of roof." And he too went paddling away to play.
And all the time Little White Fox was hiding his nose in a little snow bank, and closing his pink eyes because he was so very much afraid of every one, even his best friends, out here on the silent, lonesome sea. Very soon he was nearly frightened to death. Big White Bear popped right up out of the ocean! He climbed up on one end of the piece of roof and tipped it up so Little White Fox thought he would surely be tipped into the sea. But he dug in his toes and hid his nose, and closed his eyes very tight. Pretty soon Big White Bear thought of something he wanted to do and tumbled back into the sea.
Little White Fox floated on and on, for hours and hours and hours, over the silent sea. But by and by when he was very, very hungry and very sure that he would never see his dear home and his dear mother again, there came a dreadful storm. Little White Fox had to dig his toe nails in tight, again, and once the piece of the roof broke right in two and nearly threw him into the sea! But finally he felt a bump. His piece of roof had struck something hard. Bump! Bump! He nearly stood on his head, and in a minute the piece of roof was perfectly still. Little White Fox looked up, and right by the piece of roof was the finest sandy beach you ever saw. He gave one big run and jumped on the beach, and scampered away, as fast as ever he could, just before a big wave came and carried the piece of roof back to sea.
It wasn't any time at all until he was up on the edge of the finest hill, eating the richest, juiciest blueberries that had ever been kept under a snow bank all the long winter through. And pretty soon he was all dry, and feeling fine and not hungry at all.
"But where in the world am I?" thought Little White Fox, scratching his head. "I'll have to see if I can find some of my friends who can tell me how to go home. It must be a long, long way."