canoe ashore and the tent erected, for the nights were already becoming
unpleasantly cold. Luka went into the woods, and soon returned with some
dried branches and a quantity of pine cones. Godfrey cut three sticks
and made a tripod, from which the small kettle was suspended, and fish
and meat were soon grilling over the fire. As soon as the kettle boiled
a handful of tea was dropped into it, and it was taken off the fire. The
three companions made an excellent meal, then Luka and Godfrey lighted
their pipes and sat smoking by the fire for half an hour, and then lay
down in the tent for a sound sleep.

When Godfrey woke he found that Luka was already up. He had stirred up
the embers, put on fresh wood, filled the kettle and hung it over the
fire, and had then evidently sauntered off into the wood. Godfrey, after
the luxury of a rapid bathe, began to prepare breakfast, and by the time
it was ready Luka came down with a dozen squirrels he had shot.

"Lots of them in the wood," he said; "if stop here three or four days,
get lots of skins."

"I don't think they would be much good to us, Luka, though those you
shot will be useful for food; but I have been obliged to stand with my
head over the smoke of the fire to keep off these rascally mosquitoes,
and my face was so swelled with their bites when I woke that I could
hardly see out of my eyes till I bathed my face with cold water. The
sooner we are off the better, if we don't want to be eaten alive."

Accordingly, as soon as the meal was finished they packed up and
continued their voyage. After eight hours' paddling they came upon the
mouth of a river.

"This must be the Seriberka," Godfrey said. "That is the only river
marked in the map anywhere about here. We will paddle a mile or two up
and fill our kettles. If it is that river, we shall come upon an island
a few miles off the coast, in another twenty or thirty miles. See, Luka,
how near we are getting to the end of the map. We are not very much more
than a hundred miles from this line; that is the division between Russia
and Norway. Once we land on the other side of that line we are free."

In seven or eight hours after leaving the river, Godfrey said, "There is
Kildina Island, Luka. We will land over there instead of upon this
shore. There may be some Laplanders about, and there is a Russian place
called Kola about twenty miles up a river a little way past the island,
and the natives might take us there if they cam