d
the Samoyedes and Yuruks kill great numbers on the coast. They eat the
flesh and sell the teeth for ivory."

"Well, we don't want them at present," Godfrey said; "but if we fall
short of food we will see whether we can kill some. At present the great
thing is to get on."

Night and day the canoe kept on her way. Except when Godfrey was asleep
Luka did not steer, for he did not like the management of the sail,
especially now that the boat at times heeled over a great deal with the
beam wind. He himself took his sleep by fits and starts two or three
hours at a time, and except when cooking, paddled away assiduously.
Twice Godfrey was lucky enough to bring down some ducks when a flock
swept past the boat within shot. They had, too, a supply of fresh fish,
for Godfrey now always had two lines out towing astern, with some white
geese feathers fastened to the hooks as bait. Ordinarily they caught
nothing, but they passed through several large shoals of fish, and at
these times they pulled them out as fast as they could haul in and let
go the lines, sometimes bringing in three or four at a time, as there
were six hooks on each line. These fish were herrings, and they formed a
welcome change. Luka had never seen one before, for although they
penetrate for some distance up the great rivers, they never ascend to
the upper waters. Jack, too, benefited greatly, for of late he had been
kept on somewhat short rations, as they had now been reduced to the four
half-cured bear's hams and a comparatively small stock of frozen food.

On the fifth day after rounding the cape the wind, which had been
gradually getting lighter, dropped altogether, and for the next two days
both of them worked steadily with their paddles.

"We must have made a good two hundred miles," Godfrey said; "and we
could safely venture to strike across in such quiet weather as this, but
there is a river marked on the chart as coming in somewhere here, and I
want to find it if I can. There is water enough for another week, but it
begins to taste horribly of skin, and besides that it has a considerable
mixture of ashes. I am sure we must be very close to it; indeed,
according to my calculation of two hundred miles, we ought to have
passed it already. Anyhow, we will keep on until we get there."

Godfrey was not far out, for late in the day they saw an opening of some
fifty yards wide in the bank. They at once made for it, and entering it,
paddled along as near th