Ice Whale by Jean Craighead George

Author:Jean Craighead George
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-04-02T21:00:00+00:00

Near the village of Barrow‚ pulsating mechanical booms shook ’s ocean space. He surfaced and spy hopped. A group of men were setting off dynamite on the ice. They were looking for oil—not whale oil but petroleum. The roar of the engines bothered his ears and body. Taking a breath‚ he dove deep into the cold‚ clear water. Swimming as rapidly as he was able to‚ he put distance between himself and the explosions. When he met the coastal current‚ he slowed down. The ocean currents split at Point Barrow. One flowed strong as a river to the north through heavy ice. The other flowed east along the Canadian coast.

Every year since he had been born‚ Siku had taken the coastal current‚ but not this time. This time the blasts forced him to take a more difficult route farther north through broken ice to get to his summer home. Enjoying the tumbling floes as he swam‚ he finally caught up with a group of male bowheads.

They had more members than they’d had in the last fifty years. No Yankees had been whaling since then. Now the ice whales were increasing in numbers—coming out of hiding in bays and remote waters. was among them.

swam quietly‚ listening to the male bowheads and the whistles and roars of the females ahead of them. The females were communicating with each other and their newborns. Swimming among the ice chunks on the northern current‚ he heard no more whaling ships.

Then heard the distinctive sound of umiaq paddles. He noted the location of the umiaq and turned away.

A harpooner in the umiaq saw turn and tossed the harpoon.

Siku threw himself thirty feet in the air. When he splashed back down into the water‚ the waves swamped the umiaq. Siku would not give himself to this crew. He did not know them.

He was now one hundred years old and weighed sixty-five tons‚ and he could rock a whaling boat with a single swing of his huge flukes. He rose again‚ and thrust himself out of the sea. Water rained down. The great splash reflected the sun’s rays‚ creating a glittering orange‚ green‚ and yellow waterfall. It was a beautiful moment. The huge wave that followed lifted the boat and drove it toward an ice floe.

Other boats came to help‚ thinking he was dead. But he was not dead. Pumping his gigantic fluke‚ he dove.

swam under the umiaqs. The whalers watched the great whale in awe as he disappeared beneath the ice. They knew this whale was special.

A living mat of sea life growing on the seafloor glowed green‚ red‚ and brown. He slowed down and lolled until he heard the whalers’ paddles in the water. With that‚ he plunged down into the depths of Barrow Canyon.

In its dark valley he rested for almost forty-five minutes before rising to breathe. The whalers had left. Soaked by ’s splash‚ they had paddled to their ice camp to get out of their freezing‚ wet parkas.

surfaced. Arctic cod circled him in a Ferris wheel of fish wizardry.

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