Island of the Blue Dolphins: Chapter 21 Summary & Analysis

When Karana leaves the cave that night, she leaves Rontu inside—she doesn’t want him to find the Aleuts’ dogs, if they’re on the island. The Aleuts are camping where they did last time, about a half a league from Karana’s cave. She wonders if she should move to the cave where the wild dogs lived. The men don’t frighten Karana; they’re too busy. Rather, she’s worried the girl will find her. There are edible roots and seeds in the ravine, and the girl might notice the spring and Karana’s footprints. After staring at the Aleut camp for a while, Karana decides to stay in the ravine.

Karana stays inside the cave until the next full moon. At this point she needs food, so she and Rontu hike to the headland. Three of the whale ribs are missing from her fence, but nobody is there. Karana gathers a basket of seawater and abalones. The next time Karana goes out for food it’s too dark to get to the reef, so she spends several dark nights digging roots. Karana doesn’t see the Aleuts, though she does find the girl’s footsteps further down in the ravine. Fortunately, the Aleuts haven’t brought dogs.

Karana and Rontu’s days are long. At first, Rontu paces and resents being cooped up. But he soon gets used to it and watches Karana work on her cormorant skirt. She works in the light of the fish lamps and carefully cuts the cormorant skins, so the feathers go in different directions in different parts of the skirt. When she runs out of fish for light, she starts taking it outside to work. She sometimes finds footprints, but they’re not close to the cave. Karana feels safe—the Aleuts will be gone by the end of the month, as winter is coming.

This is the first time Karana has seen the skirt in the sunlight. The black feathers shimmer green and gold, and it’s so beautiful that Karana is almost giddy. As Karana admires the skirt, though, Rontu suddenly leaps up and Karana hears steps. It’s the girl. Karana grabs her spear, but she doesn’t throw it—she doesn’t know why. When the girl speaks, Rontu approaches her with his hackles raised. He allows her to touch him, and the girl makes a motion as though Rontu is hers. Karana cries, shakes her head, and picks up the spear, but the girl makes another motion that seems to say Rontu is Karana’s.

The girl introduces herself as Tutok, but Karana ignores this and calls Rontu to her. Tutok smiles and points to the cormorant skirt. She says a word that sounds a lot like the word for “pretty” in Karana’s language. Karana is so proud of the skirt that she holds it up so it glimmers in the sunlight. Tutok approaches Karana and holds the skirt up to herself. She’s a bit older, and she’s graceful, but Karana hates the Aleuts. She takes her skirt back. The girl says the word that sounds like “pretty” again. It’s good to hear words again—even if an enemy is saying them.

Tutok continues to speak, but Karana doesn’t understand much of what she says. Tutok seems to want to know if Karana lives in the cave, but Karana gestures that she lives far away across the island. She’s certain that Tutok will come back with men and take her to their camp. But still, Karana doesn’t throw her spear. Tutok touches Karana’s arm, which Karana doesn’t like. Then, she drinks from the stream and disappears.

Karana spends the rest of the day packing her things. She plans to take her canoe to the western part of the island until the Aleuts leave. Karana carries her baskets away a few at a time, but when she returns for the final two, she can tell someone has been there. Afraid that someone is waiting for her to go into the cave so they can capture her, Karana turns away. But as she does, she sees a string of black stones on one of the rocks.