CHAPTER XI 



AMONGST THE WALRUS ISLANDS 



(By the Leader of the Expedition) 



How many goodly creatures are there here ? 



The Tempest 



And let us banquet royally 

 After this golden day of victory 



King Henry VI 



THE question now arose as to what form of amuse- 

 ment we could find to pass away the time whilst our 

 friends the walruses were pleased to forsake us and 

 disport themselves in the open sea. The ladies were 

 both in favour of rowing to the mainland, and 

 although the flat sand dunes of the shore looked very 

 uninviting and uninteresting we all decided on the 

 trip. Taking our largest boat we set out with two 

 sailors, rowing a distance of a mile or more to the 

 nearest point, which was a sandy promontory jutting 

 out into the lagoon. 



On landing we found the ground covered with a 

 thick growth of long, coarse grass, and all along the 

 foreshore were countless tracks of foxes, showing 

 plainly where these animals had roamed along the 

 beach in quest of fish, flesh, or fowl, thrown up by 

 the tides. 



We soon saw quite a number of foxes moving on 



the side of a sandy hill above, and nothing would 



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