CHAPTER II 



THE GOOSING 



We now had thirty versts to travel if we were to make 

 our old Pesanka camp. 



All went w r ell till we reached the Baroshika, and here 

 we came to an enforced delay. For the river had risen 

 badly and was very deep. We tied the reindeer's heads 

 to the sleighs and tried the river with the ' toorr.' It was 

 everywhere unpromising. At last we could delay no 

 longer, but determined to cross at our old ford where 

 the water would not be higher above the normal than 

 two feet. 



So we sluno- our belono-ino-.s round our necks, and 

 standing on the sleighs, prepared to cross. I doubt not 

 this sounds simple enough. It was not. It was easier 

 for the Samoyed in his seal-skin boots. But to stand 

 on a small, slippery, moving sleigh in nailed boots, with 

 water rushing round your feet, is hard. The drop from 

 the bank into the water is the first trial, and the 

 bumpings, risings and sinkings of the sleigh over the 

 sandy shallows are worse. However, we did get over 

 with water up to our knees, and we crossed without 

 other mishap than a broken sleigh. For somehow my 



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