Ice Whale (8 page)

The Eskimos have a two thousand-year relationship with the bowhead. They believe the whale has a spirit and knows the hunter and even what he is thinking. Whales only offer themselves to worthy hunters.

spy hopped to look at Toozak again. Then he dove and spanked his tail on the surface of the water.

“
‚” Siku shrilled.

I remember you‚ boy of the kind eyes
.

He breached in gladness. Toozak saw the mark on his chin that resembled an Eskimo dancer.

“Siku‚ go‚” he called‚ and clapped his hands. “Go deep. The Yankees are out whaling. They say that whales are always listening. Listen‚ Siku‚ hear me and go!”

waved his fluke and swam west. He had not understood the man's words‚ but he understood their meaning.

He dove under an ice floe and went back to his whale companions. But Toozak was not the only human on the bay. A mile away were seamen in whaleboats from the whaling ship
Liberty
. They saw Siku‚ rowed up to his floe and anchored the boat there. A harpooner was ready to strike Siku when he came up to breathe. The man made no noise as he readied his harpoon and waited. The crew did not talk.

From under the ice‚
could see the wooden bottom of their whaleboat. It lay like a cup on the top of the water. Siku was afraid. He and the others swam farther under the large floe‚ away from the hunters‚ pushing up the ice with their huge heads. The ice broke. Air entered the dome. Having breathed‚ he and the others swam on under the ice floe‚ miles away from the whalers.

From the surface of the ocean came these words:

“They got away. These whales are smart. They will hide under the ice to avoid us.”

Then more words.

“He's not worth the effort‚ anyway‚” said the harpooner. “Most of them were small. There's not much blubber on a young whale and the baleen is too short to bother with. Let's go.”

He raised the sail of their whaleboat. It filled with wind and the sailors sped back to their whaling ship.
heard the windlass on the whaling ship whir as the whaleboat was lifted out of the water and put back on its stanchion.
was about to join
when from far out in the deeper waters came a deep bass warning call. “
.”

Orca whales coming toward you.

heard the killers skimming his way. He stayed under the ice in the air dome. The orcas reached his floe but would not go under it. Their large black dorsal fins were six feet tall and could snag on the ice if they tried to pursue Siku. The ice whale had the advantage of the ice for protection. The orcas turned away and chased after a group of fat seals. The seals rotated magically, surfaced and swirled off.

When at last Siku heard the orcas chasing seals far out to sea‚ he swam out from under the ice. The other three spy hopped and‚ seeing no orcas‚ hurriedly swam south.

swam out from under the ice floe only to meet a killer whale‚ who had been silently waiting for him to leave the floe. Siku turned to swim back under it. The orca grabbed his fluke and bit with crushing pressure. With a powerful thrash of his body‚
tore his fluke from the orca's grip‚ but the predator's strong teeth cut deeply. Quickly the lone killer whale called for another killer whale to come help in his hunt. One arrived. The two circled Siku.

dove down to an ocean valley. He stirred up mud and debris with his flippers and fluke‚ then swam into the cloudy water. The killer whales pursued but avoided the silt cloud. They circled around it. Minutes passed.
needed to surface for a breath but he did not. He remained down for another half hour. When he finally surfaced‚ he breathed long and heavy blows. The orcas were gone. Their calls went south. He heard their fading calls moving south.
knew that they had given up on making a meal of him. He blew a great column of air and called out to the other whales.