Patalamon rattled a pair of seal 's shoulder bones in front of a herd of holluschickie and they stopped dead , puffing and blowing . Then he stepped near and the seals began to move , and Kerick headed them inland , and they never tried to get back to their companions . Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of seals watched them being driven , but they went on playing just the same . Kotick was the only one who asked questions , and none of his companions could tell him anything , except that the men always drove seals in that way for six weeks or two months of every year . `` I am going to follow , '' he said , and his eyes nearly popped out of his head as he shuffled along in the wake of the herd . `` The white seal is coming after us , '' cried Patalamon . `` That 's the first time a seal has ever come to the killing-grounds alone . '' `` Hsh ! Do n't look behind you , '' said Kerick . `` It is Zaharrof 's ghost ! I must speak to the priest about this . '' The distance to the killing-grounds was only half a mile , but it took an hour to cover , because if the seals went too fast Kerick knew that they would get heated and then their fur would come off in patches when they were skinned . So they went on very slowly , past Sea Lion 's Neck , past Webster House , till they came to the Salt House just beyond the sight of the seals on the beach . Kotick followed , panting and wondering . He thought that he was at the world 's end , but the roar of the seal nurseries behind him sounded as loud as the roar of a train in a tunnel . Then Kerick sat down on the moss and pulled out a heavy pewter watch and let the drove cool off for thirty minutes , and Kotick could hear the fog-dew dripping off the brim of his cap . Then ten or twelve men , each with an iron-bound club three or four feet long , came up , and Kerick pointed out one or two of the drove that were bitten by their companions or too hot , and the men kicked those aside with their heavy boots made of the skin of a walrus 's throat , and then Kerick said , `` Let go ! '' and then the men clubbed the seals on the head as fast as they could . Ten minutes later little Kotick did not recognize his friends any more , for their skins were ripped off from the nose to the hind flippers , whipped off and thrown down on the ground in a pile . That was enough for Kotick .
He turned and galloped -LRB- a seal can gallop very swiftly for a short time -RRB- back XXXXX the sea ; his little new mustache bristling with horror .
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