But I knew better--knew that
her heart harked back to her own people by the yellow beach of
Akatan.
'So, after a long time, I went back to the port which is by a
gateway of the sea, and there I learned that he had gone across
the girth of the great ocean to hunt for the seal to the east of
the warm land which runs south from the Russian seas.
'And I, who was become a sailorman, shipped with men of his own
race, and went after him in the hunt of the seal. And there were
few ships off that new land; but we hung on the flank of the seal
pack and harried it north through all the spring of the year. And
when the cows were heavy with pup and crossed the Russian line,
our men grumbled and were afraid. For there was much fog, and
every day men were lost in the boats. They would not work, so the
captain turned the ship back toward the way it came. But I knew
the yellow-haired sea wanderer was unafraid, and would hang by
the pack, even to the Russian Isles, where few men go. So I took
a boat, in the black of night, when the lookout dozed on the
fo'c'slehead, and went alone to the warm, long land. And I
journeyed south to meet the men by Yeddo Bay, who are wild and
unafraid.
Pages:
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211