Now,
however, the seals seemed to have deserted the place, and I was not
sorry when Tom Kinlay proposed that we should give up our search
for them and return home.
Just as we were moving away I chanced to look along the shoreline,
and at some distance from where we stood I detected a moving object
in the water, and presently saw what I took to be three seals
basking on a bank of sand. Now was our weariness changed to eager
desire, and we at once prepared for some good sport.
Leaving our dead falcon on a slab of rock, we quietly distributed
ourselves. Willie Hercus approached the seals under cover of a
large boulder. I crept along by the foot of the cliffs with Selta,
intending to get down to the water's edge, and so work back again
to cut off the retreat of the seals; while Kinlay and Rosson did
the same on the other side.
We gradually and silently closed round our game. Our approach was,
however, somewhat marred by an alarm given by a seagull flying over
the seals. The largest animal turned round towards the sea. Its
mates took the signal and, with it, made for the water.
I gave a word to the dog, and Selta ran forward to meet the middle
seal, which she kept at bay as she might have kept a sheep, barking
in its face and always getting between it and the water.
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