56 A SUMMER ON THE YENESEI 



a wooden hut, but all the driftwood was sodden by the 

 rain, and they could not light a fire. On the second 

 morning some of the crew tried to take food ashore to 

 these unfortunate people, but the ship's clumsy boat 

 could not be beached in the surf on the open strand, 

 and the sailors were obliged to return, wet to the 

 skin. 



This delay was very trying to everybody on board, 

 from Captain Ello, who wanted to finish his voyage to 

 Golchika and return to the south, to our dog, the 

 '* Sabaka," as she was nicknamed by common consent, 

 who lived in a makeshift kennel in the stern of the 

 steamer. The poor thing found her quarters very 

 cramped, although whenever it was possible we took her 

 ashore for a run. She was cunning enough to find this 

 out, and as soon as she heard the rattle of the anchor 

 chains, she used to yelp dolorously until she was 

 taken for a walk, or until she heard the paddle wheels 

 thrash the water again, and knew that the hope of 

 release was over for the day. 



The wind did not go down until 25th June. Then 

 the Oryol began to pant her fussy way down the river 

 again, stopping every ten or twenty miles to land fish 

 barrels. We grew heartily tired of watching the 

 crowded boats creep ashore, and the equally leisurely 

 unloading of their contents. These halts delayed our 

 progress very much, and were seldom long enough to 

 allow me to do any serious work on shore, except at 

 Breokoftsky, which we passed on 26th June. 



We anchored off" an island on the eastern side of the 

 archipelago, at ten o'clock at night. The water was so 



