AND KAYAK 97 



moved away to get the dogs ready. In a few 

 minutes they were lighting their pipes for 

 another start, and we bumped and slid and 

 twisted down the river as if nothing had 

 happened. Julius kept the sound runner 

 towards the boulders, so that the patched one 

 had none of the bumps, but when once we 

 were off the slippery ice of the river we went 

 jolting over the ridges and racing down the 

 slopes in quite an ordinary way, and the 

 travelling was none the slower for the tree- 

 trunk splice on our broken runner. 



On the morning after our arrival in the 

 village of Nain, while the dogs were sleeping 

 off their tiredness, waking every now and again 

 to lick their frosted toes and wonder when the 

 next feeding time would come, those two busy 

 drivers were on the look out for a new runner 

 for the sled. 



They had the good fortune to meet with a 

 man who was the proud owner of a beautiful 

 plank of the fine tough Labrador wood that 

 never warps if you leave it out in the snow ; 

 and over several pipes of black tobacco in 

 that good man s hut Julius and Johannes had 

 made their bargain. Before noon they came 

 along to see me : they had the beautiful plank 

 on their shoulders, and they dumped it care 

 fully on the snow outside my window ; then 



