14 Arctic Adventure (13 page)

The world’s biggest moose, the world’s biggest bear, the world’s biggest animals of many kinds are all in Alaska.

And on this particular morning the boys set out to find a sea lion fourteen feet long, twice the length of the seven-foot sea lion of the California coast. Alaska’s fur seal is the biggest and strongest of its kind.

Hal and Roger were out early, carrying—not a gun — but a net and a lasso. They arrived at the beach just in time to see the fight. A big sealion bull was tackling a giant fur seal.

‘Why do they call it a sea lion?’ Roger asked.

Hal said, ‘The scientist who discovered it, Steller by name, called it the lion of the sea because it looked so much like the African lion with its huge neck, massive shoulders and golden eyes. Also, it was as big as a full-grown lion. The one you see right there probably weighs a ton. The sea lion is said to be smarter than a lion—and it’s a lot more intelligent than the average seal. The circus that wants an animal to do tricks chooses a sea lion because it can be trained very easily. Even the young one is born smart. It doesn’t start blind like so many animals, but has its eyes wide open, can swim without learning how, and weighs a hundred pounds before it is two months old. You might say it is grown up when it is born. It starts out with excellent vision and good hearing. It can dive to more than a thousand feet — and a big adult can’t do any better.’

The fur seal sprang out of the water like a dolphin, his whiskers waving in the breeze, and came down with a mighty thump upon the back of the sea lion.

Roger laughed. ‘Makes me think of two boys playing leap frog,’ he said.

‘Yes,’ said Hal, ‘but these two fellows are not playing games. They’d just like to kill each other, that’s all.’

The lion twisted out from under his enemy and gave the fur seal a terrific blow on the head with his powerful flipper, which was almost as strong as iron.

Then it was whiskers against whiskers. Each got the other’s whiskers between his teeth and pulled. The result was a terrific roar of pain on both sides.

Pulling loose, the sea lion grabbed the fur seal’s head and ducked it down under the water. There he held it tightly so that his enemy should die for lack of air.

The fur seal wrapped his long, strong hind flippers around the lion’s head and pulled it down under.

‘Now they’ll both die,’ exclaimed Roger.

But the fur seal’s wives came to the rescue. The boys hadn’t noticed them before. Hal made a quick count. ‘There are thirty of them.’

‘And all of them are wives of this one bull?’

‘That’s right. Sometimes a bull has as many as fifty wives.’

With a great deal of squeaking the wives swam under the two males and hoisted their heads into the air.

The wives got small thanks from their bull. Instead, he roared at them as if he were saying, ‘Get out of the way. This is no business for females.’

Hal said, ‘He reminds me of some men who don’t appreciate what their wives do for them.’

Now there was a furious struggle between the lion and the bull. At one moment it looked as if the fur bull would slaughter the lion. All eight flippers of the two beasts were going like windmills. One thinks of a flipper as being as weak as a wing. Instead it is as dangerous as an axe. With all these axes flailing both animals were getting badly gouged. That didn’t matter so much in the case of the sea lion because, like the African lion, his hide is not good enough to be made into a fur coat. But in the case of the fur seal it was a serious matter, since the fur of this animal is almost as valuable as that of the sea otter.

The boys didn’t care to mix into this fight and perhaps get killed.

‘Where do these fur seals come from anyhow?’ Roger wondered.

‘From the Pribilof Islands up past Russia.’

‘Russia! Why that’s a million miles away.’

‘No,’ said Hal. ‘The line between Russia and Alaska runs up through Bering Strait. If you walk out on the ice to that line and reach over and shake hands with somebody you are shaking hands with a Russian. Russia is as close as that to the United States.’

‘If they were so close why didn’t they grab Alaska?’ ‘

‘They did just that. Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia, told Vitus Bering to find out what lay east of Siberia. Bering was the first white man to set foot upon Alaska. The young United States knew nothing about it. Canada knew nothing about it. The Russians took it over. Many years later they sold it to the United States for seven million dollars. Now it is worth billions instead of millions.’

Hal saw a black fin coming toward the two fighters.

‘That’s a killer whale,’ he said. ‘I’m afraid it’s all up with the lion and the bull. The killer whale has a keen appetite for seals and sea lions.’

But it was not all up. Frightened by the murderous whale, the two enemies quit fighting each other and prepared to face the killer whale. This was a battle they were not likely to win. If they ever needed help, this was the time.

Nanook was growling ferociously. He didn’t like killer whales. He started toward the water and the boys let him go. The great bear swam out and sank his teeth into the lip of the killer. That gave courage to the lion and the bull and they joined Nanook in an attack upon the killer whale.

The killer would be killed himself if he didn’t get away fast. He decided to seek his dinner elsewhere. With a swish of his great tail, he brushed his three tormentors toward the beach.

Nanook had so often seen the boys capture animals that he instinctively knew what to do. He pushed both animals up on to the beach. Hal promptly dropped the noose of his lasso over the head of the sea lion and Roger captured the fur seal in his net.

Hal said, ‘We’ll give them time for their nerves to quiet down a bit before we take them to the airport.’

‘But won’t they die —out of the water?’

‘In ancient times’, Hal said, ‘they were both land animals. Even now they like to be out of the water just as well as in it.’

‘But can they walk—without feet?’

‘Their fins aren’t quite as good as feet for walking,’ admitted Hal, ‘but they can waddle along. First, let them rest.’

The fur seal was looking at Roger with big, beautiful brown eyes.

‘He looks as intelligent as the sea lion,’ said Roger. ‘And his face looks exactly like a bear’s face.’

‘You guessed it,’ said Hal. ‘He’s a cousin of the bear. Steller called him a ‘sea bear’.’

‘How big he is!’

‘I suppose he weighs about five hundred pounds. All the same, he can move fast. Look at those big strong shoulders and the lightning movements of his neck, and his big ivory teeth. They are like the teeth of a sperm whale. Notice how they curve back so that they can hang on to anything they close on. He has a terrific bite, and yet he never chews anything, just swallows it whole. Now he’s beginning to dance around. That’s the way fur seals are—very lively, full of fun.’

‘Well,’ said Roger, ‘we’ll have to give them the fun of a waddle to the airport.’

And waddle they did, with Nanook following close behind. The people of Barrow had never seen such a sight—a parade of two boys, two ferocious beasts, and the great white bear acting as policeman to see to it that these mighty fighters should waddle in peace to the airport.

‘This is going to be a big day,’ said Hal. ‘Get on your Neoprene suit. We’re going down.’

‘What’s up?’ said Roger. ‘I mean what’s down?’

‘The humpbacks and the belugas. A lot of both of them have just arrived. They are down there, waiting for us.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘I’m talking about two kinds of whales that Dad wanted. They’ve just arrived from Hawaii —hundreds of them. The humpback is the most astonishing of all whales. You’ll understand when you see him and hear him.’

‘Hear a whale?’ said Roger. ‘Whales don’t make any sound.’

‘That’s what you think,’ said Hal. ‘You’ll put your fingers in your ears when the humpback sings. You’ve heard many sounds under water but nothing like the song of the humpback. So I’ve been told — I’ve never heard it myself. This will be a new experience for both of us.’

‘What did you say the other one was he wants us to get —a belly something?’

‘Not belly. Beluga. It was named by the Russians. It comes from a Russian word meaning white. It’s the only snow-white whale in the sea. It also is very musical.’

‘Does it sing?’ asked Roger.

‘Not exactly. It whistles.’

When they came down, dressed in their rubber suits, the Eskimo landlord said, ‘What are you after today?’

‘Whales,’ said Hal.

The landlord smiled. ‘You are joking. Two boys against a whale! Everybody in town knows how smart you are. You have caught many animals. But when it comes to catching a whale —that’s another matter. You probably don’t even know the ceremony.’

‘Ceremony?’ Hal asked. ‘What ceremony?’

‘All the women of the town must close their mouths and keep quite silent. If they speak the whale will swim away. They must not move. If they do the whale will thrash about and escape. Also, for good luck, you must wear a magic charm with the picture of a whale on it. We Eskimos know these things.’

‘I respect what you know,’ said Hal. ‘But perhaps all that ceremony is for Eskimos, not for us. Don’t tell your women to keep quiet for our sake.’

‘But you can’t do this all alone.’

‘No,’ said Hal. ‘We’re going to have help. I saw the chief of the Coast Guard yesterday. They will have one of their big boats above us where we go down. \i we get into trouble, they will help us. Anyhow, we’re not after the big ones. The zoos would rather have young animals who have a long life ahead of them.’

‘But even a young whale will be stronger than a dozen men. Even if you catch it, it will struggle and get away.’

‘That’s why we have this,’ said Hal.’ He held a gun.

‘You can’t use that,’ said the landlord. ‘There’s a law against killing whales.’

‘I know,’ said Hal. ‘But this isn’t to kill a whale. There’s no powder in it —only a spring. Instead of firing a bullet it shoots a dart full of sleep medicine that will simply pierce the skin of the whale and put him to sleep.’

‘You can’t fool me,’ said the landlord. ‘A gun is a gun. And a gun kills. I’ll have to tell our policeman what you are up to.’

‘Go ahead,’ said Hal. ‘Perhaps he can help us.’

‘He’ll help you into the town jail.’

Hal smiled. ‘Tell him first to talk to the captain of the Coast Guard. He knows that we’re not interested in killing anything or anybody —even you. Now, if you will excuse us, we must get along.’

Hal and Roger walked to the Coast Guard station, where the men knew very well what the boys were up to and admired them for their courage. . A sleek, clean little vessel carried them around Point Barrow to the western side, where the water boiled with the frolicking whales. One monster who happened to be under the boat raised it up several feet into the air, where it teetered for a moment and then fell with a great splash into the sea.

The skipper said to Hal, ‘How about it? Want to change your mind? There’s a riot going on down there. You’re taking an awful chance.’

‘I don’t think it will be too bad,’ said Hal.

‘Whales are not like sharks. They have no reason to attack us. By the way, where do you suppose they all came from?’

‘From the warm waters down south. They spend the winter there. When summer comes it’s too warm for them and they come up to the pleasant cool waters of the Arctic. Just as a precaution, give me the name and address of your folks so we can notify them if you get killed.’

Hal grinned. He didn’t expect to get killed. But he gave the skipper what he had asked for. ‘John Hunt, Hunt Wild Animal Farm, Long Island, New York.’

The boys adjusted the scubas on their backs, then stepped over the starboard gunwale and sank into the water.

The peaceful giants made room for them. They gathered around in a great circle and sang. Hal had never heard such a song before. Roger could not believe his ears. The gentle monsters let loose with an underwater concert such as the boys had never heard in any opera house.

Some of the notes slid from high to low like a police siren. Some were trilled, some were burbled. Sometimes there was a distinct melody. Some sang soprano, some mezzo-soprano, some alto and some bass.

Underneath it all was a boom-boom like the sound of big drums and the rat-a-tat-tat of snare drums. The big whales thundered, the little ones squeaked. Music boomed, echoed, swelled, a medley of glorious sound. It,’was a fanfare of trumpets, trombones, clarinets, oboes, bassoons, saxophones and flutes—not to mention the deep thunder of the pipe organ.

Since it came from huge lungs, the roar was deafening.

Hal remembered that the National Geographic had published a recording of the songs of humpback whales. And now they were listening to the whales themselves doing even better than the record.

But what was that whistling sound? Somebody or something was whistling a tune. Hal pointed to a smaller whale all in white. It was one of the belugas, sometimes called white whales. Evidently it could not sing, but it whistled its heart out.

Why were the humpbacks called humpbacks? Like the killer whale, which carries a fin on its back projecting upward about five feet sharp and strong, the humpback also has a fin on its back but quite different in appearance. It was low and thick and looked more like a lump than a fin. And some had no lump at all.

The humpback was oddly shaped. Hal could understand why it was called the most remarkable of all whales. It had an enormous head and its jaws when open were big enough to swallow a Jonah. Its two swimming fins were unusually long. Its various parts were awkwardly joined together like the segments of an ant. The front section was huge, but then the body tapered down to a narrow tail.

It went through all sorts of crazy movements. It loved to stand on its head with its tail projecting up out of the water. It could curl up like a doughnut. It would furiously splash the water with the large flukes of its tail. And all the time it sang as lustily as the calliope on a Mississippi steamboat.