Island of the Blue Dolphins

by Scott O'Dell

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Chapter 15 Summary

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As long as Karana can remember, there have been wild dogs on the Island of the Blue Dolphins; after the Aleuts killed most of the men, their dogs joined the others and the pack grew much bolder. Even before the ship came, the dogs were raiding and prowling through Ghalas-at, but then the ship came. The girl is sure the pack is as bold as they are because of their leader, the one with the gray fur and the yellow eyes.

No one had ever seen this dog before the Aleuts arrived, so they must have left him behind; he is much larger than the others, who all have short hair and brown eyes. She has killed four of the dogs, but the pack has grown because new dogs have been born; the young dogs are even wilder than the old ones.

She gathers armloads of brush to put in front of their cave once they have come back to sleep after a night of prowling. She has her bow and five arrows and two of the spears; she circles quietly around the mouth of the cave and leaves all her weapons except one spear. She sets fire to the brush and pushes it into the cave. There is no sound from inside as she climbs onto a nearby rock ledge with her weapons to watch and wait. The fire burns high, but most of the smoke stays in the cave. She determines to save her arrows for the leader.

None of the dogs emerge from the cave until the fire dies. Several dozen come trotting out, but many more are still in the cave. The next dog out is the leader. Unlike the others, he does not run away; instead he stands sniffing the air. Karana is close enough to him to see his nose quivering, but he does not see her until she raises her bow, a move that does not frighten him. He is facing her, ready to spring, when the arrow pierces his chest. He turns away, takes one step, and falls. More dogs exit the cave, and she kills two of them.

Karana jumps from the ledge carrying both her spears and discovers the gray dog has moved while she was killing the other two. He cannot have gone far due to his wound, yet she cannot find him anywhere near the cave. After waiting a long time, she enters the cave. It is deep, but she can see clearly. Far back in a corner she sees a half-eaten fox carcass and a black dog with four gray pups. One of the tiny balls of fur walks toward her; she would like to hold it, but the mother leaps to her feet, baring her teeth. Karana raises her spear and backs out of the cave. The gray dog is not here.

Night is approaching, so she follows the trail the dogs use and finds the broken shaft of an arrow, gnawed off at the tip. Farther on, she sees his uneven tracks in the dust; she follows them, but darkness falls before she finds him. It rains for the next two days, and she spends her time making more arrows. On the third day she takes her weapons and follows the trail. The rain has washed away any tracks, but she starts at the rock where the tracks left off days before. She found the gray dog on the other side of the rocks. He is only ten paces away, so she can see him clearly and is certain he is dead. As she is about to throw her spear, the dog lifts his head from the ground and then lets it drop.

She is used to animals playing dead until they suddenly attack or run away. The spear is her best choice from this distance, but she is better with the bow and arrow. She climbs the rocks and prepares to shoot—but she does not. The dog is motionless when she finally approaches him. The shaft of the arrow is covered in blood, and his fur is matted from the rain.

The only way she can lift the heavy dog is to kneel and put his legs around her shoulders; his body is limp as in death. This is how she carries him to her home. She cannot get him through her entrance, so she cuts the bindings and removes two whale ribs to get him inside. He does not move when she removes the arrow from his chest and cleans the wound. She is nearly out of food, so she leaves water for the dog, repairs the fence, and goes to the sea. She has “no thought that he will live” and she “does not care.” All day she gathers shellfish; only once does she think of the dog, wondering why she did not kill him.

He is still alive when she returns. The next day she leaves him food before she goes, and he eats it. When she gets home, he is lying in a corner watching her. She cooks two fish and gives him one. His yellow eyes follow her everywhere she moves. Karana sleeps on the rock and leaves the hole under the fence open, but he does not leave. She feeds him fish again that night. This continues for several days, and each day he meets her at the fence; once she holds out her hand to him, but he backs away and bares his teeth. On the fourth day, he is not waiting for her. She always hopes he will be gone; now that he might have left, she does not feel like that and calls to him. As she crawls under the fence, the dog is inside, stretching himself and yawning. He looks at the fish and at her; then he moves his tail. That night Karana sleeps in her house. Before she falls asleep, she decides his name will be Rontu, which means Fox Eyes.

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