rom the _Gull_
loomed up out of the fog and made fast to the wharf.

Hearing that the only breakfast the shipwrecked men had been able to get
was some cold and water-soaked provender from the boat, two or three of
the residents hurried to their homes on hospitable errands bent, and in
a few minutes most of the men were thawing out and allaying the pangs of
hunger with steaming mugs of hot coffee and a solid meal. So, when the
captain came looking for Colin that he might take him to the Fisheries
agent's house, he found the lad--who was thoroughly democratic in his
ways--breakfasting happily with the sailors and recounting for the
second time the thrills and perils of the preceding day.

Rejoining the captain an hour or so later at the house to which he had
been directed, Colin was effusively greeted by the assistant to the
agent, a young fellow full of enthusiasm over the work the Bureau of
Fisheries was doing with regard to fur seals. A natural delicacy had
kept him from troubling Captain Murchison, but as soon as he discovered
that Colin was interested in the question and anxious to find out all he
could about seals, he hailed the opportunity with delight.

"I've just been aching for a chance to blow off steam," he said. "It's
an old story to the people here. Obviously! I don't think they half
realize how worth while it all is. I'm glad to have you here," he
continued, "not only so that we can help you after all your dangers, but
so that I can show you what we do."

"I'm still more glad to be here," Colin replied, after thanking him.
"I've been trying to persuade Father to let me join the Bureau, but this
is such an out-of-the-way place that I never expected to be able to see
it for myself."

"It is a little out of the way," the official replied. "But in some
ways, I think it's the most important place in the entire world so far
as fisheries are concerned. It's the one strategic point for a great
industry. Of course!"

"Why is it so important, Mr. Nagge?" Colin queried. "Just because of the
seals, or are there other fisheries here?"

"Just seals," was the reply, in the jerky speech characteristic of the
man. "Greatest breeding-place in the world. You'll see. Nothing like it
anywhere else. And, what's more, it's almost the last. This is the only
fort left to prevent the destruction not of a tribe--but of an entire
species in the world of life. Certainly!"

"Calling it a fort seems strange," Colin remarked.