344 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 
a remote idea of this man’s astonishing appearance. 
One eye was large and white and sightless, the other 
rolled round and round, as though it were attached to 
a stalk, like the orbit of a cuttle-fish. His retreating 
forehead, with prominent gorilla-like orbital bones, lost 
itself beneath a skin hood, from underneath which 
appeared long locks of straight black hair. His mouth, 
enormous and wide open, was hedged by a bristling 
row of ape-like teeth, and altogether there was some- 
thing so ogreish and strange about this apparition that 
I stared speechless, at which they roared with laughter, 
and then arose a shout, ‘Tima Fé! Tima Fé!’ It 
was Tima Fé, a Samoyed from the other boat. He 
grinned at his reception, and when he grinned he really 
seemed to lose himself behind his mouth. 
This Tima Fé was sort of henchman to Alexis, and 
had been sent ashore to get the isba ready. He sat 
down, was given some vodki, and 
then we became, as usual, the sub- 
ject of an up-and-down conversation. 
Tima Fe listened to all they had to 
say about us; how we had lost our 
ship, how we had lived with the 
 Kolzuay py . 
Samoyeds, and how we were hoping 
to get to England, which was an island lying beyond 
Norway right across another sea. On all this he 
made no comment. But when they had told him all 
they could he was silent and pondering for a_ bit, 
