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 to the sea ; his little new mustache bristling with horror . At Sea Lion 's Neck , where the great sea lions sit on the edge of the surf , he flung himself flipper-overhead into the cool water and rocked there , gasping miserably . `` What 's here ? '' said a sea lion gruffly , for as a rule the sea lions keep themselves to themselves . `` Scoochnie ! Ochen scoochnie ! '' -LRB- `` I 'm lonesome , very lonesome ! '' -RRB- said Kotick . `` They 're killing all the holluschickie on all the beaches ! '' The Sea Lion turned his head inshore . `` Nonsense ! '' he said . `` Your friends are making as much noise as ever . You must have seen old Kerick polishing off a drove . He 's done that for thirty years . ''
`` It 's horrible , '' said Kotick , backing water as a wave went over him , and steadying himself with a screw stroke of his flippers that brought him all standing within three inches XXXXX a jagged edge of rock .
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