ght was a good deal like butchery, and Colin felt a little
uncomfortable. Moreover, he was not hardened to the odor arising from
the blubber of the seal. He beat a retreat.

"I beg your pardon, Mr. Nagge," he called, holding his handkerchief to
his nose, "but that's too much for me."

The agent turned and noticed his departure. He called back to the boy:

"Do you see that low hill? To the right of that ruined hut?"

"Yes," Colin responded.

"Just below that are some sea-lions! Go and take a look at them. I'll
join you as soon as we are through here. Won't be long. But you'll have
to stalk them to the leeward if you want to get close," he added,
"they're shy. I'll meet you there and we'll go back to dinner. You
ought to be hungry by then."

"I will be, then," Colin responded cheerfully, adding under his breath,
as he glanced back over his shoulder at the killing-grounds, "but I'm
not now!"

A short walk through the long moss a-glitter with wild flowers, poppies,
harebells, monkshood, and a host of sub-Arctic species, brought the lad
to the top of the hill. There he paused a moment, to look over the
island, treeless save for dwarf willows six inches high and a
ground-dwelling form of crowberry. Below him, and some distance away,
were the sea-lions, but even from that coign of vantage they looked so
big and menacing that Colin wondered whether they might not stalk him,
instead of his stalking them.

After a little scrambling, however, he found himself at the bottom of
the cliff, and made his way as carefully as he could to the sea-lion
rookery. But when he did come near and rounded a large boulder in order
to get a fair view, he was inclined to think that shyness was the last
idea he would have gained from the looks of sea-lions. Near him, almost
erect on his fore flippers, was an old bull, a tremendous creature, well
over six feet in height and weighing not less than fifteen hundred
pounds.

Apart from size, he was a much more vicious-looking creature than the
sea-catch; the tawny chest and grizzled mane gave him a true lion-like
look, and an upturned muzzle showed the sharp teeth glistening white
against the almost black tongue, while a small wicked, bulldog eye
glittered at the intruder. The female sea-lion, near by, was almost as
large as a six-year-old bull seal.

Wanting to see something happen, and realizing from the build of the
sea-lion that he could not make much progress on land, Colin threw a
stone