I owe him for some gulls ' eggs . '' `` Do n't look at him , '' said Kerick . `` Head off that drove of four-year-olds . The men ought to skin two hundred to-day , but it 's the beginning of the season and they are new to the work . A hundred will do . Quick ! '' 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 XXXXX a train in a tunnel .
So about after behind beyond of on past till to