breaking
of twigs. Presently there was a louder and more continuous sound of
breaking bushes, and then with a sudden rush a great elk, followed by
four others, burst out of the thicket. As they came along the Ostjaks
stepped out from their hiding-places and let fly their deadly arrows.
The leading elk came close to the tree behind which Godfrey was
standing, and as it passed he fired both barrels, hitting it just behind
the shoulder. The elk ran a few paces and then fell. Three out of the
other four had been brought down by the Ostjak arrows; the young male
escaped. The satisfaction of the Ostjaks was great; for here, in
addition to the value of the skins, was food for themselves and the dogs
for some time to come.

A man was at once sent back for the sledges. While waiting for these the
rest set out on various tracks of ermine they had passed on the way, and
three of these and a marten were killed before the sledges came up. The
big elk was placed on one sledge, one of the females on each of the
others. The fourth was skinned, cut up, and divided among the three
sledges. Lightly as the sledges ran over the snow the men were all
obliged to harness themselves to ropes to assist the deer, and it was
late in the evening before they arrived at the hut. The fire was lighted
at once. Godfrey undertook the cooking, while the rest skinned the bears
and elk, cut them up, and hung up the carcasses on boughs beyond the
reach of the dogs. These had a grand feast off the offal while the men
were regaling themselves with fresh elk steaks.

For two months the hunting was continued with much success, then the
Ostjaks said they would return home. Godfrey, however, was anxious to
continue hunting; he had a small tent that had been made for him and
Luka, and the Ostjak leader offered to leave one of the sledges with six
dogs that had been trained to draught work. As soon as the Ostjaks had
started on their return journey the tent, a store of provisions and
furs, were packed in the sledge, and a fresh start made, as they had
been in their present position for over a week. As they went along two
of the poles were arranged so that they made a deep groove in the snow,
by which they could find their way back to the starting-point. Two days'
journey took them into a hilly country. They established themselves in a
sheltered valley, and made that the centre from which they hunted.

They were now twelve days' journey from the Yenesei and well be