After a few days, when the poor old whale had been completely dissected, and even the bones had been disassembled and packed up, we got ready to break camp and set off back to the village. There was even more commotion making ready to go home than there had been on the way out to the camp, because the people were jubilant at their success, and their busyness was infused with joy.
I never noticed that Henry was missing, not for ages. I was too busy helping to pack and chattering to my dad about the hunt. But just as we were loading our tents onto the snowmobile, I realised I hadn’t seen him for hours. Was he avoiding me? I wondered. Was he annoyed at what I’d said about killing whales?
‘I bet he’s in the snow house,’ I said to Dad. ‘He really likes it in there.’
‘But the snow house is full of whale meat,’ said Dad.
‘No. It’s been packed up for going home,’ I said. ‘It’ll be empty again by now.’
‘Well, but it’ll smell of whale, it’ll be bloody and greasy. I can’t imagine him going in there just to play.’
Play! Really, adults haven’t got a clue, have they? If Henry had gone into the snow house, it would be because he liked it in there. He wouldn’t be playing house!
Anyway, we went looking for him, me and my dad, but he wasn’t in the snow house. I crawled in, and Dad was right, it stank in there, but there was no sign of Henry.
‘Would he have gone on ahead with one of the other crews?’ Dad suggested.
‘No, I don’t think so,’ I said. ‘He’s very responsible about being a boyer. He’d never just go off home and not say. Anyway, his dad is part of this crew and his older brother. He’d hardly want to go home with a different family, would he? Dad?’
Dad grunted.
‘You don’t suppose a polar bear got him, do you?’ I still wasn’t sure if there really were polar bears about, but I didn’t like the thought of them all the same.
‘No! I don’t suppose so, not for a minute.’
‘Well, they keep going on about bears.’
‘Yes, but if a bear came to the camp, we’d know all about it. We’d hear it, see it, there’d be tracks. A bear couldn’t just happen by and run off with a boyer and nobody notice.’
‘You sure?’ I asked.
‘Of course I’m sure,’ said Dad.
But I thought he was being too light-hearted. If polar bears weren’t such a danger, why would the people keep talking about them? I was worried about my friend, and starting to feel a bit guilty too that maybe I’d driven him away with my talk about whale-hunting being so dreadful. This was very unlikely, I see that now. You wouldn’t get rid of Henry that easily. But at the time I was worried and confused. You think daft things when you’re anxious.
‘Look,’ said Dad, ‘you keep looking around here. I’ll go around the other camps and see if he’s gone to visit a friend. But I won’t say anything to his dad yet. Don’t want to worry him. If we don’t find him within the hour, we’ll meet back at our tent, and decide what to do. OK?’
‘OK,’ I said, but really it didn’t seem a very good plan to me. I couldn’t imagine any place else he could be, apart from in the snow house. There were no trees, no walls, no ditches to hide in. Nothing but snow and ice and sea and emptiness.