“I have seen plenty of those leaves at no great distance from the village,” said Peter Patch; “but I had no idea that there were roots under them.”
“Ah! so much the better; we shall have a supply of food at our doors, and when we return you shall go out and dig them up, Peter,” said the doctor, who perhaps, rather doubted the correctness of the midshipman’s assertion.
Willy and Peter in their eagerness frequently went ahead of the rest of the party. The latter was a little in advance of his companion, when he uttered a loud cry. “Oh! there is another of those horrid brutes.” At that instant a fierce bellow was heard, and a huge tiger bull-seal started up and gazed fiercely at the midshipmen. They grasped their axes to attack the seal; but the animal, rushing forward, warned them that “discretion was the best part of valour.” With such short weapons they could not hope to strike it without the risk of being seized by its formidable tusks.
“Run, Dicey, run,” cried Peter; and Willy, brave as he was, felt that it was prudent to follow Peter’s example. The seal came after them at full speed, bellowing loudly. His voice and their shouts brought the seamen to their assistance; but the animal, seeing fresh foes in front, turned aside, and before the men could reach it, dashed at a rapid rate through the bush.
The doctor and captain now joined the chase, and away they all went, the seal bellowing and the men shouting and laughing. The doctor, who was not so active as the rest of the party, was soon distanced. The captain in vain attempted to get a shot at the animal’s head; he knew that a wound in any other part of the body would produce no effect. On went the seal, down the side of the mountain, following a well-marked track. “Where he goes we can follow,” cried Willy; “come on, come on.” The seal soon showed that he could not only run for a short distance faster than they could, but that he could keep at the same speed for a longer time.
“This beats coursing,” cried Peter Patch. “The creature will give us as good a chase as a hare. If we had but some dogs it would be fine fun. We must have run a couple of miles already.”
“We may have to run a couple more before we catch him,” said Willy, “and it won’t do to give it up.”
They were approaching the shore, or, rather, the head of a gulf which ran up from it. Should the seal reach the water he would be lost. The party doubled their speed, when the animal, then about fifty yards ahead, suddenly disappeared. Willy and Peter could with difficulty stop, and save themselves from falling into a deep narrow gully with perpendicular sides which appeared before them. They leaned over the edge. It was thirty or forty feet deep, a stream of water running at the bottom. Had they gone over, they would probably have broken their necks.
“He will escape by the end of the gully,” cried Willy. “Sharp and Wall, run round to the beach and try and stop him.”
The men did as they were directed; while Willy and Peter scrambled down with the assistance of some bushes which grew in the sides to the bottom of the gully. On making their way towards the sea, they found that the gully was arched over, and they now entered a spacious cavern, down the centre of which the stream made its way. It was separated into two parts by the stream; each part was about fifty feet long and fully twenty wide, while the roof appeared to be nearly thirty feet above their heads. A flood of light came through a round hole in the centre of the roof, and enabled them to survey the cavern. The walls and ground were perfectly dry, and they agreed that it would not be a bad place to live in, provided the wind did not set through it. As they were proceeding on, they heard the captain’s voice shouting to them, he wondering where they had got to. Looking up, they caught sight of his head appearing through the hole.