246 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



Now, though I was greatly tempted to remain and 

 follow the goose-catching, two considerations influenced 

 me in the contrary direction. In the first place I was not 

 easy about Hyland ; I was afraid he might be having one 

 of his attacks, and I knew too that he would be wanting 

 bread. Nor ao-ain could I feel that I had a rioht to 



o o 



amuse myself until I had done all that lay in my power 

 to help the Saxon should she come. So, very reluctantly 

 I determined to return to-day. 



Before I left, Mrs. Uano gave me three small loaves of 

 bread, and a little flour with which to thicken our soup. 



I left at six in the evening, and Uano came with me on 

 a second sleigh. 



He surprised me very much by the way, for he asked 

 me to look through my glass at a white object in the 

 distance and tell him whether it was not a reindeer. I 

 knew perfectly well that it was a snowy owl, for I had 

 been watching it for some little time. And a snowy 

 owl it w r as. But it seemed odd that a pair of native 

 eyes should have been so deceived. 



After crossing the Baroshika, which was again very 

 deep, we stopped to bait the deer. It took them exactly 

 ten minutes, I found, to clear the lichen which lay around 

 them without moving from where they stood. 



When you want the deer to eat their fill, you lay the 

 ' toorr ' down in front, as I have before described, and 

 then, when they have fed up to it, move it farther away, 

 and so keep moving it, each time as they draw up. 



