t skilful among us."

[Illustration: "Suddenly I saw them fly through the air."]

He had hardly finished these words when the Lapp with railroad speed
and dangerously close bore down upon me, and before I could realize it
passed in front of me within three feet, without however touching me, as
my companion had predicted. Still it took my breath away; my heart beat
so quickly. Down he went. Before I had time to recover I saw the Lapps
in the air, over the chasm, then in the twinkling of an eye they had
alighted on the other side. Their momentum was very great, and in less
than a minute they had leaped over the river, and continued their
forward course, which they could not stop, on the plain below; then
lessened their speed gradually with the help of their sticks, the ends
of which were thrust deep in the snow.

It was a grand sight. As they leaped over their legs were somewhat bent,
and as they struck the snow they righted themselves. While in the air
they maintained their skees parallel, as if they had been on the snow,
and when they alighted the skees were on a perfect level with each
other; no man seemed to be more than two or three feet ahead of another.

I had followed their motions with great curiosity. They seemed to give a
spring as they came near the brink of the chasm, bending their bodies
forward, straightening themselves as they struck the snow, and
continuing their way as if nothing had happened.

On their way back, as they neared me I shouted, "Good for you, boys!
Good for you! It was splendid." I shook hands with every one of them.
They were very much excited over the sport.

The hollow over which they leaped seemed to be about ninety-five feet
wide, and the place from which they sprang was about twelve or fifteen
feet above the bank on the other side. They told me that some of the
great leaps in the country had been over one hundred and twenty-five
feet.

"Is it possible!" I exclaimed; "it seems incredible."

Then the Lapp who had passed so near me said to me, "You were afraid I
would strike you on my way down. We can pass an object far below us
within a few inches when we like. We will show you how we do by and by."

The Lapps once more ascended the hill, and I took a new position by the
river and waited for them to come down. They started in the same way as
before and came down with very great speed, leaped over the gully, and
in an instant, seemingly, they were in the air over the river--a le