He ordered the crew to haul in close and throw him a line which he made fast to the skin and it was pulled aboard, while the small boat backed in and took the Captain off.
They sailed back to Chorrilos where some fishermen were engaged to trim the pelt and spread it on a roof in the sun to cure.

It was the finest skin Paul had ever seen and he was very proud of it.
The next morning he was ordered to appear at the palace in Lima and was detained there for three days on business connected with a new submarine boat.

When he returned to the sloop, he was surprised to see great flocks of galanasas (a species of buzzard) and condors hovering over the beach; but at the moment paid no attention to them any more than to think some dead body had been washed ashore on which the scavengers were feeding.

Hastily ascertaining that everything was in order on board the sloop, he went to the roof to see how the sea lion's skin was curing.

To his intense disgust, he found nothing left but the polished skull of the monster.