Island of the Blue Dolphins: Chapter 15 Summary & Analysis

There have always been wild dogs on the Island of the Blue Dolphins, but the pack has become much bolder since the Aleuts killed villagers and the villagers’ dogs joined the pack. The villagers had planned to get rid of them, but then everyone left. Karana believes the pack grew bolder because of the leader, who she believes came with the Aleuts. He’s bigger than the other dogs and looks very different. At this point, Karana has already killed five dogs, but the dogs keep reproducing. There are many to kill.

Karana begins by collecting brush near the pack’s lair. Then, when the dogs are all in the cave, early in the morning, Karana lights the brush on fire and pushes it into the cave. Eventually, the dogs will have to leave and escape the smoke. Karana decides to save her arrows for the leader. As the fire dies, small groups of dogs come out of the cave. Then, the leader comes out alone. He doesn’t run away—and he doesn’t see Karana until she raises her bow. Karana’s arrow strikes him in the chest. He wanders away, and Karana shoots three more dogs.

With her spear, Karana goes to look for the leader. She can’t find him. After a while, she goes inside the cave. There’s a dog in there with four pups, and one approaches Karana. Karana wants to pick it up, but its mother bares her teeth. Though Karana threatens the mother with her spear, she doesn’t kill her. The leader is nowhere to be found.

It’s nearly night now. Karana follows a trail that winds along a cliff until she comes across the broken shaft of the arrow that she shot the leader with. She finds the leader’s tracks, but she loses them in the darkness. It’s raining the next day, so Karana makes more arrows. The day after, it’s nice again, so Karana follows one of the dogs’ trails until she finally finds the leader. Karana raises her spear—but the dog lifts his head and then drops it again. Karana is surprised, but she’s used to animals playing dead. She climbs onto a tall rock and then notches an arrow. But her hand won’t let go, and the dog never gets up.

Karana climbs down again and approaches the leader. She picks him up and carries his limp body to the headland. He’s too difficult to get through her hole under the fence, so Karana opens the fence to get him in. In her house, Karana pulls the arrow out and cleans the wound with a stick. Figuring the leader will die, Karana leaves water for him and goes to the sea to gather shellfish. But he’s still alive when she gets back, so she cleans his wound and forces him to drink water. He looks at her for the first time; his eyes are sunken.

For four days, Karana nurses the leader and sleeps on her rock at night—she doesn’t trust him. During the day, she leaves the fence open, but the leader never leaves. She shares her fish with the thin dog, though he won’t take it from her hand. On the fourth day, Karana returns from the sea and the leader isn’t at the fence. Strangely, Karana is almost sad that the dog left. She calls, “Dog,” and finds him inside the house. He wags his tail at her when he sees the fish. Karana sleeps in the house that night and decides to give the leader a name: Rontu, which means “fox eyes.”