Suddenly the lead dog began to bark. He had smelled a seal hole. Papik
pulled him away and ran back to the sled. He must not let the dog
frighten the seal away.
Papik's father poked around in the snow till he found exactly where the
hole was. Then, with his snow knife, he carved a snow seat so he could
be comfortable while he waited for the seal to come. He put a piece
of fur under his feet with the hair side up. He might have to wait
motionless for hours, and he had to keep his feet warm. Beside him he
laid his harpoon--a special kind of spear with a line attached to it.
For a long time Papik played near the sled. At last his father's sharp
ears caught a little noise. It was a seal breathing. Quietly he stood
up, plunged his harpoon straight down, and hit the seal.
[Illustration: ~The hunter held on to a line attached to the barb and
pulled the harpoon handle out, so it would not break.~]
[Illustration: ~A woman's knife was called an ulo.~]
Papik came running at his father's shout. Together they chipped the ice
away from the edges of the hole, making it big enough so they could
pull the seal out and kill it.
[Illustration: ~Milak's doll~]
Now they took little ivory pins and closed up the slit that the harpoon
had made in the seal's skin. They didn't want any of the animal's
blood to spill out. Seal blood was an important food. And when it was
prepared in a special way, the children often used it for chewing gum,
too! Papik's family, and the dogs as well, would have plenty to eat
when they got home.