150 Chapter V. 



All this time the sky was turning darker and darker 

 red behind me, and it was getting more and more 

 difficult to use the sights of my gun, not to mention 

 the trouble I had in keeping the clay from them and 

 from the muzzle. The reindeer still grazed quietly on. 

 When they raised their heads to look round I had to lie 

 as quiet as a mouse, feeling- the water trickling gently 

 under my stomach ; when they began to nibble the 

 moss again, off I went through the mud. Presently I 

 made the disagreeable discovery that they were moving 

 away from me about as fast as I could move forward, 

 and I had to redouble my exertions. But the darkness 

 was getting worse and worse, and I had the mate to 

 the north of me, and presently he would start them off. 

 The outlook was anything but bright either morally or 

 physically. The hollow was getting shallower and 

 shallower, so that I was hardly covered at all ; I 

 squeezed myself still deeper into the mud. A turn in 

 the ground helped me forward to the next little height, 

 and now they were right in front of me, within what I 

 should have called easy range if it had been daylight. I 

 tried to take aim, but could not see the bead on my gun. 



Man's fate is sometimes hard to bear. My clothes 

 were dripping w r ith wet clay, and after what seemed 

 to me most meritorious exertions, here I was at the 

 goal, unable to take advantage of my position. But 

 now the reindeer moved down into a small depression. 

 I crept forward a little way further as quickly as I could. 



