nding the boat again safe
seems to me the greatest blessing we have had yet; I don't know what we
should have done without it."

Another quarter of an hour brought them to the point. The boat lay just
afloat, bumping on the sand as each little wave lifted and left her.
They sprang out of the canoe into shallow water and threw out the
anchor, and then waded to the boat. She had about four inches of water
in her, but was entirely uninjured.

"Hurrah!" Godfrey shouted, "she is as good as ever. Now, Luka, get
everything out of her as soon as you can, then we can turn her over and
empty her, put the things in again, and be off at once. We have got no
time to lose, for you must remember there is not much more than a quart
of cold tea left in the kettle. I am sure the Kara River can't be very
far off, but I can't say whether it is three miles or thirty."

In half an hour they were again afloat and working their paddles to
assist the sail. Two hours later Luka said, "Huts on that point ahead of
us."

"So there are," Godfrey said. "Six or eight of them and a lot of
cattle."

"Reindeer!" Luka corrected. "Samoyede village."

"Why, there must be hundreds of them," Godfrey said in surprise.

"Yes, the Ostjaks told me in our old camp that many of the Samoyedes had
five hundred, and some of them a thousand reindeer. They keep them just
as we do cattle. Their wealth is counted by their reindeer. They make
their clothes of its skin; its milk and flesh are their chief food. It
draws their sledges, and when they want money they can sell some of
them."

"Did you ask how much they can be sold for?"

"Yes, the Ostjaks said that they were worth here two or three roubles
each."

"Then if there are many of these encampments along the shore, Luka, we
need not trouble about food; and if anything happens to our boat we can
make a couple of sledges, buy four reindeer, and start by land."

"Then we should have to wait until winter," Luka said.

"Yes, that would be a nuisance; but it would not be so very long to
wait. I had no idea reindeer were so cheap. If I had I think instead of
spending the winter hunting I would have bought some reindeer and
started to drive. Still it would have been a terrible journey, and
perhaps we have done better as it is. Well, shall we land? What do you
think?"

"We don't want anything," Luka said. "The Samoyedes are generally
friendly. They are not like the Tunguses and Yuraks. But you see there
are bu