be? The speck came nearer, and we
recognized a woman with a bludgeon coming towards us as fast as her
skees could carry her. As soon as she was within hearing distance she
shouted, "Wolves! Wolves!" The dreaded news had come; the wolves had
made their appearance in our district.

She stopped when she reached us, and with one voice the Lapps asked her
when the wolves had been seen, and if they had attacked any herd. "No,"
she answered, "but they will soon do so, for the tracks of three packs
have been seen." She had hardly spoken these words when she bade us
good-bye, and was on her way to some of her family who had pitched their
tent about four miles from where we were. The bludgeon she carried for
defence against the wolves.

Soon every man, woman, and child of our tent were on their skees. The
men armed themselves with heavy bludgeons and guns and, followed by all
the dogs, we started for the herd, taking a lot of reindeer meat with
us. Now there was to be an increased watch day and night.

I followed the Lapps on my skees, and though I lagged behind, as I could
not go as fast as they did, one of the girls remained with me to show me
the way, and now and then she would stop and scan the country for
wolves.

I was armed with my double-barrelled shotgun loaded with buckshot. "Oh,
if I could encounter the wolves," I said to myself, "what havoc I would
make amongst them."

When we came to the herd we told those who were on the watch the news of
the appearance of wolves. Immediately preparations were made to discover
their whereabouts.

Some of the people went in different directions to reconnoitre, all
armed with their heavy bludgeons. They shouted as they left: "We will
show the wolves if we meet and chase them on our skees what our
bludgeons can do. We will smash their heads and break their legs."

Towards dark, when they returned, they had seen no wolves nor their
tracks. "The wolves are so cunning and their ways are so unknown to us
that we must be on the lookout all night," said the Lapps to me.

Then we partook of our reindeer meat, which had been kept between our
clothing and our chests to prevent it from freezing. It is not pleasant
to eat a frozen piece of meat as hard as a rock. But I had learned not
to be so very particular. Otherwise I should never have been able to
travel in the country.

The moon was on the wane. When it rose it cast its dim light upon the
snow. It was a very busy night for the L