Kotick knew by the feel of the water, which never deceives a true sea
catch, that no men had ever come there.

The first thing he did was to assure himself that the fishing was good,
and then he swam along the beaches and counted up the delightful low
sandy islands half hidden in the beautiful rolling fog. Away to the
northward, out to sea, ran a line of bars and shoals and rocks that
would never let a ship come within six miles of the beach, and between
the islands and the mainland was a stretch of deep water that ran up to
the perpendicular cliffs, and somewhere below the cliffs was the mouth
of the tunnel.

"It's Novastoshnah over again, but ten times better," said Kotick. "Sea
Cow must be wiser than I thought. Men can't come down the cliffs, even
if there were any men; and the shoals to seaward would knock a ship to
splinters. If any place in the sea is safe, this is it."

He began to think of the seal he had left behind him, but though he was
in a hurry to go back to Novastoshnah, he thoroughly explored the new
country, so that he would be able to answer all questions.

Then he dived and made sure of the mouth of the tunnel, and raced
through to the southward. No one but a sea cow or a seal would have
dreamed of there being such a place, and when he looked back at the
cliffs even Kotick could hardly believe that he had been under them.

He was six days going home, though he was not swimming slowly; and when
he hauled out just above Sea Lion's Neck the first person he met was the
seal who had been waiting for him, and she saw by the look in his eyes
that he had found his island at last.

But the holluschickie and Sea Catch, his father, and all the other seals
laughed at him when he told them what he had discovered, and a young
seal about his own age said, "This is all very well, Kotick, but you
can't come from no one knows where and order us off like this. Remember
we've been fighting for our nurseries, and that's a thing you never did.
You preferred prowling about in the sea."

The other seals laughed at this, and the young seal began twisting his
head from side to side. He had just married that year, and was making a
great fuss about it.

"I've no nursery to fight for," said Kotick. "I only want to show you
all a place where you will be safe. What's the use of fighting?"

"Oh, if you're trying to back out, of course I've no more to say," said
the young seal with an ugly chuckle.

"Will you come with m