"If it only comes to shore," said Kalitan.

"What will you do with it?" asked Ted.

"Oh, there are lots of things we can do with a whale," said Kalitan. "The
blubber is the best thing to eat in all the world. Then we use the oil In
a bowl with a bit of pith in it to light our huts. The bones are all
useful in building our houses. Whales were once bears, but they played
too much on the shore and ran away to sea, so they wore off all their fur
on the rocks, and had their feet nibbled off by the fishes."

"Well, this one didn't have his tail nibbled off at any rate,"
laughed Ted. "I saw it flap at the Tyee, and thought that was the
last of him, sure."

"Tyee much big chief," said Kalitan, and just then the old man's _kiak_
drew near them, and he stepped ashore as calmly as though he had not just
been through so exciting a scene with a mighty monster of the deep.




CHAPTER VI

THE ISLAND HOME OF KALITAN


Swift and even were the strokes of the paddles as the canoes sped over
the water toward Kalitan's Island home. Ted was so excited that he could
hardly sit still, and Tyee Klake gave him a warning glance and a muttered