Island of the Blue Dolphins: Chapter 20 Summary & Analysis

Karana fills the canoe twice more with red abalones, cleans them, and dries them on shelves. There are no children to protect the abalones from the gulls, so for a while, Karana leaves Rontu at home to chase the birds. He hates this and howls, so eventually, Karana ties some bright abalone shells to poles, which keeps the gulls away. Karana also catches small fish for light during the winter.

Karana spends each morning gathering food for winter, and in the afternoons, she and Rontu go out on the sea. They spend their afternoons visiting the sea elephants, Black Cave, and Tall Rock, where cormorants roost. At Tall Rock, Karana kills 10 birds and prepares their flesh—she wants to make herself a cormorant feather-skirt.

Karana discovers Black Cave on the south coast of the island one day. She only notices it because she sees a sea hawk fly out of it. Even though Karana has a long way to go to get home, she’s curious about the cave. She paddles through the small, low entrance and comes out in a room with shiny black walls. There’s an opening in the back, but on the other side of the narrow passageway is a bigger, brightly lit room. Rontu starts barking and then howling—and it gives Karana chills. She makes him stop.

As Karana turns the canoe to leave the cave, she notices a deep shelf with two dozen strange figures on it. They’re Karana’s height, with bodies made of reeds, gull feather clothes, and abalone eyes. The figure in the middle is a skeleton, and it’s playing a pelican bone flute. Karana paddles for the opening, but the canoe won’t fit. The tide is coming in, and she’ll have to spend the night in the cave. Karana doesn’t look at the figures’ glittering eyes and instead watches stars through the crevice at the top of the cave. The water against the walls sounds like flute music, and Karana barely sleeps. She knows the skeleton and the others are her ancestors, but she’s still afraid. She leaves in the morning and tells Rontu they’ll never return.

Karana continues to hide the canoe in the cave below the headland every time she returns from an outing. It’s now been two summers since the Aleut hunters came, but Karana keeps an eye out for their sails. She never goes any further than a half-day’s journey away. Finally, the last time Karana and Rontu go to Tall Rock, the Aleuts come. As Karana climbs the cliff with the 10 cormorant skins, she gazes at the sea. One of the clouds on the water is a ship, but Karana can’t tell what color the sails are. She tries to scout from several places, but then realizes that the white men’s ship came from the east. This one is coming from the north.

Karana isn’t sure the ship belongs to the Aleuts, but she packs her things anyway and leaves them by the fence. Then, she returns to the headland. The ship traveled faster than she expected, and she can see clearly that it has a bow like a bird’s beak and red sails. Even though Karana knows the Aleuts won’t come to shore in the dark, she spends the night carrying her things to the cave. In the morning, when everything else is at the cave, Karana tosses her abalones that aren’t dry, gets rid of the shells to scare the gulls, and brushes her footprints away. The house now looks deserted.

Karana climbs the rock to check on the Aleuts. Now, the ship is anchored in the cove and men are bringing supplies to the shore. Others are already hunting otter—and there’s a girl cooking on the shore. Karana has taken care not to create a trail to the cave; this time, she takes a circuitous route through the brush. Rontu is hesitant to enter the cave, but he finally follows Karana in. She closes the opening with stones behind them and sleeps all day.