There were seals all about us in the water, and the bellowing thousands on the beach compelled us to shout at each other to make ourselves heard.
"I know men club them," I said, trying to reassure myself, and gazing doubtfully at a large bull, not thirty feet away, upreared on his fore-flippers and regarding me intently.

"But the question is, How do they club them ?" "Let us gather tundra grass and thatch the roof," Maud said.
She was as frightened as I at the prospect, and we had reason to be gazing at close range at the gleaming teeth and dog-like mouths.
"I always thought they were afraid of men," I said.
"How do I know they are not afraid ?" I queried a moment later, after having rowed a few more strokes along the beach.

"Perhaps, if I were to step boldly ashore, they would cut for it, and I could not catch up with one." And still I hesitated.
"I heard of a man, once, who invaded the nesting grounds of wild geese," Maud said.

"They killed him." "The geese ?" "Yes, the geese.

My brother told me about it when I was a little girl." "But I know men club them," I persisted.
"I think the tundra grass will make just as good a roof," she said.
Far from her intention, her words were maddening me, driving me on.