It was just at the crucial moment.
Before the last wild goose had time to come up from the water, the seals
were so close to her that they made a grab for her feet.
Then the wild geese were once more up in the storm which drove them
before it out to sea. No rest did it allow either itself or the wild
geese; and no land did they see--only desolate sea.
They lit on the water again, as soon as they dared venture. But when
they had rocked upon the waves for a while, they became sleepy again.
And when they fell asleep, the seals came swimming. If old Akka had not
been so wakeful, not one of them would have escaped.
All day the storm raged; and it caused fearful havoc among the crowds of
little birds, which at this time of year were migrating. Some were
driven from their course to foreign lands, where they died of
starvation; others became so exhausted that they sank down in the sea
and were drowned. Many were crushed against the cliff-walls, and many
became a prey for the seals.
The storm continued all day, and, at last, Akka began to wonder if she
and her flock would perish. They were now dead tired, and nowhere did
they see any place where they might rest. Toward evening she no longer
dared to lie down on the sea, because now it filled up all of a sudden
with large ice-cakes, which struck against each other, and she feared
they should be crushed between these.
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