er, and Overweg made no attempt at
conversation until the Kamtchadale laid out a meal, when he watched
them with a smile while they ate voraciously. He had stripped his furs
off, and sat with his knees drawn up on one of the skins, a little,
plump, round-faced man, with tow-coloured hair, and eyes that gleamed
shrewdly behind his spectacles.

"Shall I open another can?" he asked at length.

"No," said 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 said. "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 candour. 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 spread his hands out with a little whimsical gesture. "My
name, which I have told you, is not Sclavonic, 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," said 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 to a large extent in this man's
hands already, 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 realised that if he could not win the man's
sympathy there must be open hostility between them. It seemed possible
that he might obviate any necessity for the latter.

"In that case I think I may tell you what has brought me here," he
said. "If you have travelled much in Kamchatka you can, perhaps, help
me. To begin with, I sailed from Vanc