A TAME SEAL. 159 



floated past us, then quietly pushed out the 

 boat. The man headed obliquely down stream 

 to come up with the baby from behind, while I 

 took a position in the bow, ready to land it in 

 the boat. In a few minutes we were up to him. 

 The poor little deserted fellow was pawing about 

 in the water much after the manner of a blind 

 puppy and uttering plaintiff cries, startlingly 

 like a real baby. I skipped the scoop well under 

 him, and in a moment he was safely landed in 

 the bottom of the boat. 



I fixed up an extemporary feeding bottle, 

 made of a piece of rubber tubing, a cork and an 

 empty soda water bottle, which we filled with 

 some nice warm milk. We got him comfortable 

 on a sheepskin alongside the kitchen stove, and 

 with a little instruction he very soon knew how 

 to work his end of the tube. The warmth of 

 the stove and the bottle of milk very quickly 

 sent him into sweet forgetfulness. 



My first intention was to keep him only a 

 few days, until he got a little larger and 

 stronger, and then let him continue his journey 

 to the sea. But the little fellow became such 

 a pet and evidently liked his surroundings so 

 well that it would have been heartless in the 

 extreme to send him away ; so Jack, as the cook 

 christened him, became one of the family, and 

 grew and waxed strong, and followed me about 



