d looked away at the wide, white world, as
contented as could be. But all at once he saw a strange, strange thing.
Out on the roof of the silent sea, Little Brown Seal was sunning himself
too, right close to the door of his home. He was taking little "cat"
naps. You see, Little Brown Seal could not sleep down in his house in
the ocean. It was far too damp down there. So he was lying there by his
door, sleeping just two or three minutes at a time, then looking up to
see if there was any danger near.

Now that wasn't such a strange thing. Little White Fox had seen Little
Brown Seal do that nearly every day, but the strange thing was that
there was some one else out on the ice who seemed to be doing the very
same thing that Little Brown Seal was doing,--taking "cat" naps. And
stranger still, he did not seem to be one of Little Brown Seal's
relatives! He was too long, and he didn't wiggle his body right!

Little White Fox could see all that, but Little Brown Seal was so low
down on the ice that all he could see was the stranger's head. He might
have known even then that it was not one of his cousins, if he had had
as sharp eyes as Little White Fox. But he didn't, for his eyes were very
poor. So Little Brown Seal thought it was one of his own cousins taking
a nap now and then, just as he was. Once it looked to Little White Fox
as if he were beginning to understand that the stranger was not one of
his cousins, for he stayed awake a long, long time and looked and looked
and looked. The stranger seemed to be sleeping a long time, and that
made Little Brown Seal suspicious. But just then the stranger bobbed his
head and looked all around this way and that way, just as any real,
wise seal would do, and Little Brown Seal decided it was all right, that
this stranger was one of his really truly cousins.

And who do you think the stranger, who acted so very much like a seal,
was? It was Omnok, the hunter, with his terrible gun sliding right along
beside him! He had learned how Little Brown Seal took his "cat" naps,
and he was going to slip right up to him and kill him. He kept creeping
up closer, closer, closer. But Little Brown Seal had made up his mind
that it was one of his cousins, and so he didn't ask himself any more
questions about it. He just kept on taking his little "cat" naps and
waking up to look all around, this way and that way, but never paying
any attention to this stranger who was coming nearer all the time.

"My,