Suddenly there flashed into his mind a brilliant thought. The seal should take itself to the shore, and take him too! He seated himself firmly in the boat, and took up the paddle. With this he hit the seal a whack on the side, and, in darting away to the opposite direction from the blow, the animal headed for the shore. It could not dive, but it made a grand rush through the water, drawing the boat swiftly along. A few such rushes brought it to the shore. Whenever it made a turn to the right or left, the paddle reminded it to keep the straight path. Polargno had never heard of Neptune’s chariot with its dolphin steeds, and was therefore unconscious that he was working out a poetical idea, but he was very proud of the success of his stratagem, especially as it possessed an element of danger. If his charger had taken it into its head to back against the boat, and to give it a blow with its tail, it would have stove it in, and if it had given Polargno a whack at the same time it would probably have killed him. But the seal was too weak from loss of blood, or too ignorant to think of any such revenge, and rushed upon the beach at last, dragging Polargno’s boat up with such violence that he was shot out of it in a twinkling. He fell upon the soft sand and was not hurt. When he stood upon his feet he found that his father, and one of the neighbors had come to the shore to look after the boats, and had witnessed the last part of his extraordinary journey. He was very glad of this, for he had thought his story would not be believed in the village. The seal was soon killed, and yielded a good deal of oil and blubber. After this, the people of the village looked upon Polargno as a very clever and brave fellow, and they laughed at him no more about the trick the fox had played him. [Illustration: AFTER THEM CAME THE WHALING SHIPS.] In due course of time, the whales came up, and, after them came the whaling ships. There were whales enough for both the Esquimaux and the whalers. The former laid in large supplies for winter use, and the latter loaded their ships with oil. But the fishing was so very good that one of the whalers staid rather late for such a very northern latitude. From time to time the captain had resolved to go, but a fresh temptation in the shape of a big whale would induce him to defer his departure; and the last of September found the ship still cruising about in that latitude. [Illustration: FROZEN UP.]