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 again could I feel that I had a right to 
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 was. 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. 
