l, when he watched his
guests with a smile while they ate voraciously. He had stripped off his
furs, and with his knees drawn up sat on one of the skins. He was a
little, plump, round-faced man, with tow-colored hair, and eyes that
gleamed shrewdly behind his spectacles.

"Shall I open another can?" he asked presently.

"No," answered Wyllard. "We owe you thanks enough already. Provisions
are evidently plentiful with you."

Overweg nodded. "I have a base camp two or three days' journey back," he
explained. "It is possible that I shall make a depot. We brought our
stores up from the south with dog sleds before the snow grew soft, but
it is necessary for me to push on further. My business, you understand,
is the scientific survey; to report upon the natural resources of the
country."

He paused, and his manner changed a little when he went on again. "I
have," he added, "to this extent taken you into my confidence, and I
invite an equal candor. Two things are evident. You have made a long
journey, and your French is not that one hears in Paris."

"First of all," said Wyllard, "I must ask again, are you a Russian?"

Overweg shrugged his shoulders. "My name, which I have told you, is not
Slavonic, and it may be admitted that I was born in Bavaria. In the
meanwhile, it is true that I have been sent on a mission by the Russian
Government."

"I wonder," remarked Wyllard reflectively, "how far you consider your
duty towards your employers goes."

Overweg's eyes twinkled. "It covers all that can be ascertained about
the geological structure and the fauna of the country, especially the
fauna that produce marketable furs. At present I am not convinced that
it goes very much further."

It was clear to Wyllard that he was already in this man's hands, since
he could not reach the inlet without provisions, and Overweg could, if
he thought fit, send back a messenger to the Russian authorities. He was
one who could think quickly and make a momentous decision, and he
realized that if he could not win the man's sympathy there must be open
hostility between them.

"In that case I think I may tell you what has brought me here," he said.
"If you have traveled much in Kamtchatka you can, perhaps, help me. To
begin with, I sailed from Vancouver, in Canada, nearly a year ago."

It required some time to make his errand clear, and then Overweg looked
at him with an inscrutable expression.

"It is," said the scientist, "a tale that i