onceive what had happened; the place that was usually so
lonely, the people that had been so lazy and dull--everything within
sight seemed transformed into some mad scene of carnival. The crowd
swept past him, greeting him only with shouts and smiles and grimaces.
He knew from the number that all the people from that end of the island
were upon the road to the other end, and running after with hasty
curiosity, he went far enough to see that the news of their advent had
preceded them, and that from every side road or wayside house the people
came out to join in the riotous march.

Getting further forward upon the road, Caius now saw what he could not
see from his own door, a great beacon fire lit upon the hill where the
men had been watching. Its flame and smoke leaped up from the white hill
into the blue heaven. It was the seal-hunting, then, to which all the
island was going forth. Caius, now that he understood the tumult,
experienced almost the same excitement. He ran back, donned clothes
suitable for the hunt across the ice, and, mounting his horse, rode
after the people. They were all bound for the end of the island on which
the lighthouse stood, for a number of fish-sheds, used for cooking and
sleeping in the fishing season, were built on the western shore not far
from the light; and from the direction in which the seals had appeared,
these were the sheds most convenient for the present purpose.

By the time Caius reached the sheds, the greater number of the fishermen
were already far out upon the ice. In boots and caps of the coarse gray
seal-skin, with guns or clubs and knives in their hands, they had a wild
and murderous aspect as they marched forward in little bands. The gait,
the very figure, of each man seemed changed; the slouch of idleness had
given place to the keen manner of the hunter. On shore the sheds, which
all winter had been empty and lonely, surrounded only by curling drifts,
had become the scene of most vigorous work. The women, with snow-shovels
and brooms, were clearing away the snow around them, opening the doors,
lighting fires in the small stoves inside, opening bags and hampers
which contained provision of food and implements for skinning the seals.
The task that these women were performing was one for the strength of
men; but as they worked now their merriment was loud. All their children
stood about them, shouting at play or at such work as was allotted to
them. Some four or five of the w