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Not that they were of much value, except for the fat of their oily bodies, for they were neither hair seals nor fur seals, but just common seals, with nothing to speak of but the habits, traits and characteristics of all other families of seals and sea lions. "There's that old rascal that was here last year," one of the fishermen exclaimed, pointing at Seela.
The one was named Latai, or "Branch-next-the-sea," from his having been born under that part of a large tree. The other was called Seela from another incident in his birth. The one lived on the north side of the mountain, and called the place Falelatai, or "House-of-Latai." The other took the south side, and called his village Faleaseela, or the "House-of-Seela."
No one answered, and the few remaining seals seemed subdued and frightened. The only effect the sound of Seela's hoarse, harsh voice had was to bring out the fisher folk again, and these, armed with their clubs and knives, were overjoyed to find Seela himself, for whom they had been on the lookout. They made straight for him, but Seela was too old a hand.
Accordingly, they stayed where they were until the storm began to subside, and then, seeing the fishermen prepare to come closer, Seela gave the alarm, and, shambling down to the water with peculiar, little jumpy movements, they all, with one turn of their slim, lithe bodies, slipped into the water as though they had been oiled. Then they had a fine time.
When they had gorged themselves, and their jaws ached with the constant gulping, they amused themselves by chasing the fish for miles so many miles that the shoal returned no more to that particular place, and the poor fishermen suffered again, and their wives and babies went hungry. But Seela cared nothing for the fishermen or their wives and children.
And so things went on until there came one unfortunate day when Seela, going out for his usual feast and frolic, discovered a beautiful array of fishing nets, arranged in such a manner that any fish would be tempted just to go in and see what they were.
But Seela resolved to do a little bit of mischief himself, and, taking the lead, got adroitly between the shoal of fish and the nets, and so drove the fish exactly in the opposite direction. Not content with this, he chased them until he could chase them no longer, and then found that he had left all the other seals behind.
"I know him because he has only one eye, a part of one of his front flippers has been torn off, and he is covered with scars and wounds." Seela was certainly not handsome, and as he shambled up to a place of safety he looked a very sorry object indeed.
It was only one of the fishermen playing a simple tune on a little whistle, but Seela loved music of all kinds, and was always attracted by it. In this case he promptly left the water, and although he knew there were enemies and danger about, he went recklessly on, his harsh, hoarse bark or grunt giving place to a plaintive bleat.
So he led the way, and the fishermen found them all one morning comfortably settled on the shore close to the water, basking lazily in the sun. At first there was general alarm among the fisher folk, and plans and schemes were set afloat to either capture or kill the seals, for there was every probability that a whole herd would shortly appear if Seela and his wives were allowed to remain.
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