128 CHASE OF A REINDEER 



falsehood. I told him, that what he really 

 wanted was to desert ; that if so, his lands were 

 before him ; but that by so doing he would 

 forfeit all claim to whatever benefits I might 

 otherwise have conferred upon him. The ef- 

 fect was instantaneous ; he confessed that he 

 had done wrong, and promised fidelity for the 

 future, begging that I would not be displeased, 

 if, from want of memory on his part, we some- 

 times missed our way ; for that it was a long 

 time since he was a boy, and from that early 

 period he had never been beyond the land be- 

 fore us. The banks of the stream consisted 

 mostly of sand, heaped here and there into 

 mounds, the comfortable retreat of many siffleu, 

 or ground squirrels, some of whose company 

 were basking in the sun, or sitting up in cu- 

 rious gaze at each other : on seeing us, they dis- 

 appeared. 



Four rapids, having an aggregate fall of from 

 sixteen to twenty feet, were the only obstacles 

 to the navigation of the river, and by five o'clock 

 we had got up them all, and opened on a mag- 

 nificent lake. Close by, a reindeer appeared, 

 running at full speed, chased by a long white 

 wolf, which, though it seemed to have little 

 chance in swiftness, was nevertheless resolute in 

 the pursuit. The deer gradually made for a 

 pass below the rapid, at the other side of which 



