THIRTY-ONE
Jean hadn't made it halfway along the rocky spit before he realised that the brown lumps lined up like sausages weren't rocks at all. Instead, he'd walked into the middle of an elephant seal haul-out area, and the huge creatures were waking up.
Not good. Especially as seals could move faster than a tired man with a limp. They wouldn't even have to do anything. If one of them landed on him, it'd crush him under tons of fat and muscle.
For the second time that day, Jean admitted defeat. Today just wasn't a good day for penguins. Maybe tomorrow he'd have better luck with the boat. He backed away from the seals as slowly as he dared, before they lost interest in him and flopped back down, dormant once more.
He trudged back to camp, resolving to unpack his supplies so he had a
