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There were long stretches of smooth-worn rock running for miles, exactly fitted to make seal-nurseries, and there were playgrounds of hard sand sloping inland behind them, and there were rollers for seals to dance in, and long grass to roll in, and sand-dunes to climb up and down; and, best of all, Kotick knew by the feel of the water, which never deceives a true Sea Catch, that no men had ever come there. |
This is from “The White Seal” in The Jungle Book. Kotick, the white seal, has scoured the oceans of the world for beaches where the seals can be safe from man. Here, guided by Sea Cow, he has found them. |
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The sky above them was an intense velvety black, changing to bands of Indian red on the horizon, where the great stars burned like street-lamps. From time to time a greenish wave of the Northern Lights would roll across the hollow of the high heavens, flick like a flag, and disappear; or a meteor would crackle from darkness to darkness. |
This is from “Quiquern” in The Second Jungle Book. There is a terrible winter. The little Inuit tribe are starving, and the dogs have started to go mad. Two young people have set off in the darkness to hunt for food. After a fearful journey they find the seals, and two of their dogs who had run away. They bring back meat for the tribe. |
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Thirty below freezing! It was inconceivable till one stepped out into it at midnight, and the first shock of that clear, still air … But for the jingle of the sleigh-bells the ride might have taken place in a dream, for there was no sound of hoofs upon the snow, the runners sighed a little now and again as they glided over an inequality, and all the sheeted hills round about were as dumb as death. |
This is from “In Sight of Monadnock” collected in From Tideway to Tideway. Rudyard and Carrie are on their honeymoon in February 1892, greeted by Carrie’s brother at midnight off the New York train. He packs them into a sleigh. |
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