NOMADS 169 
middle of the stream, and possibly at an angle down 
again, but as often as not you come out all right at last. 
And Ni-arr-way did this for us. Into the water he 
went, and puzzled out the track. He might not swim; 
that was forbidden. Whenever he came to a deep place 
he turned, and tried another tack. Close behind him 
followed Mekolka, standing up ona pilot sleigh. They 
were a long time about it, but at last they emerged on 
the farther side some three hundred yards above. 
Meantime the women had been gnawing bones and 
horns, and the children running about picking dead 
grasses to put in their shoes. This grass they call 
‘sti-el-ka,’—a pretty name. 
Now it was our turn to cross. We went over easily 
and well. As Uano and I were the first over, I was 
able to sit and watch the long train of sleighs as it wound 
its way across. Twenty sleighs mean some eighty rein- 
deer, so it took some time for all to cross. And what 
do you suppose happened then? Why this. A wretched 
white puppy, quite big enough to swim if he had had an 
ounce of pluck, was found to be running up and down 
on the farther bank, and squeaking miserably. ‘Tasso’ 
is ‘puppy’ in Samoyed. But nota soul called ‘ Tasso,’ 
only Mekolka turned again and drove all the way 
across for the creature; and then, with the perverseness 
of puppyhood, this little stupid would not trust his de- 
liverer, but wriggled away out of reach, careered around, 
and took as much catching as an autumn grasshopper. 
