ng and for bears."

"Well, I think you have done capitally, Luka. You have made the money go
a long way. I suppose you have spent the hundred roubles you took with
you?"

"I have four left. I think I have done very well. We have everything we
shall want through the winter."

"Well, we are fairly off for the north now," Godfrey said, in high
spirits that everything was settled, and that for eight months at least
there would not be the slightest risk of meeting with a Russian
policeman or soldier. "Hurrah for the north, Luka, and for shooting and
adventures!"

Luka smiled. It was rarely he laughed, but he was always ready to smile
when Godfrey addressed him.

"The air feels brisk and cold to-day. We shall soon have winter upon
us."

"Yes; look there!" Luka said, pointing into the air ahead of them.

"What is it? It looks like a long black streak."

"Geese," Luka said. "It is a flight of wild geese from the north."

As it approached Godfrey saw that the Tartar was right. A solitary bird
led the way, two followed him closely, then came rank after rank
widening out till it was a broad band of fully fifty abreast. Line after
line they followed in almost military array, and extending in length
fully a quarter of a mile.

"Why, there must be thirty or forty thousand of them there," he
exclaimed in amazement.

"You will see bigger flocks than that," Luka said. "Why, all the river,
from Minusinsk down to Turukhansk, more than 2000 miles, is well-nigh
covered with birds. We shall have no lack of meat presently."

During the day many flights similar to those first seen passed overhead,
some larger, some containing only a score or two birds. The next day the
numbers were still larger, whole battalions coming along almost
incessantly. These were by no means confined to geese. There were gulls
and swans, flocks of small birds of many kinds, flights of wild
ducks--the latter, for the most part, flying much lower than the geese,
which kept far overhead.

"We had better land to-night," Luka said. "They fly close after dark,
and the flocks will settle on the banks. We will shoot them as they come
overhead. You may not see them well, but they are so thick that you can
hardly miss them."

Accordingly, when evening came on they landed, fastened the boat, took a
couple of sheep-skins each to throw over their shoulders (for even in
these two days the cold had sensibly increased), and lay down to await
the coming of the birds