Page 118 - THE JUNGLE BOOK

The Jungle Book

‘I’ve often thought we should be much happier if we
hauled out at Otter Island instead of this crowded place,’
said Matkah.
‘Bah! Only the holluschickie go to Otter Island. If we

went there they would say we were afraid. We must
preserve appearances, my dear.’
Sea Catch sunk his head proudly between his fat
shoulders and pretended to go to sleep for a few minutes,
but all the time he was keeping a sharp lookout for a fight.
Now that all the seals and their wives were on the land,
you could hear their clamor miles out to sea above the
loudest gales. At the lowest counting there were over a
million seals on the beach—old seals, mother seals, tiny
babies, and holluschickie, fighting, scuffling, bleating,
crawling, and playing together—going down to the sea
and coming up from it in gangs and regiments, lying over
every foot of ground as far as the eye could reach, and
skirmishing about in brigades through the fog. It is nearly
always foggy at Novastoshnah, except when the sun comes
out and makes everything look all pearly and rainbow-
colored for a little while.
Kotick, Matkah’s baby, was born in the middle of that
confusion, and he was all head and shoulders, with pale,
watery blue eyes, as tiny seals must be, but there was

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