292 A SUMMER ON THE YENESEl 



However, all the cargo was on board at last, and we 

 left Nosonovsky Ostrov on 19tli September. There was 

 a grand meeting in the Ragna in the forenoon, and the 

 success of the enterprise was drunk in champagne. We 

 took leave of Mr. Christensen here, and also of poor 

 Jest, whom he was taking back with him to Krasnoyarsk. 

 The Ragna weighed her anchor at six o'clock in the 

 evening, and by that time not only the hold, but the 

 decks also, were stacked with timber. The Shule 

 followed half a mile astern. The little Yenesiesk 

 piloted the two ships from their anchorage, for on 

 either side of the channel lay dangerous shoals and 

 banks. Then when she had led the way past the 

 islands, she blew a long farewell blast and turned out 

 of our course. We saluted her as we passed, and two 

 minutes later were steaming northwards alone. 



As soon as darkness fell, we lay to until dawn, for 

 the estuary of the Yenesei is full of uncharted sands, 

 and with the season so far advanced, it would never 

 have done to run aground in the river and risk being 

 caught in the ice outside. At 10 a.m. on the following 

 morning, we passed Golchika. With the help of glasses 

 we could make out all the buildings distinctly. We 

 distinguished the light-coloured raw wood on Antonoff s 

 new house, and beyond, the weather-beaten walls of 

 Prokopchuk's homestead. There was our little hut 

 beside the Golchika, and Sylkin's tiny balagan on the 

 mainland behind the island. We could even persuade 

 ourselves that we saw the Antonoffs, with Nill and 

 Anastasia, watching us from the river-bank, as indeed 

 they were certain to be doing, for news flies apace at 



