thousands of frozen
ptarmigans, to sell to the people living on the coast.

The day after our coming parties of Finlanders and Laplanders began to
leave, with forty or fifty sleighs and a number of spare reindeer in
case any gave out.

As I looked over the snow, I could see the caravans following each
other, in single file, and a number of dogs following their masters.

The next day we started with a large party. We all hoped for good
weather. We took a good supply of reindeer moss with us.

Late at night we came to the first farm of refuge found in our track.
Hundreds of sleighs and reindeer were outside, and when I entered the
house more than a hundred men were sleeping on the floor. The snoring
was something terrific, and the heat and the closeness of the room were
unbearable. A lighted lamp shone dimly on the slumberers.

So I thought that I would be far more comfortable sleeping outside in my
two bags. John said that he would sleep in his bags by me--and in fact
we slept very comfortably.

[Illustration: "The mist was so thick that I could not see ahead."]

When I awoke in the morning it was 42 degrees below zero. Then we
went into the house and had some coffee and reindeer meat for breakfast.
As at all the post stations, there is a tariff for everything printed on
the walls, so no overcharge is practised.

Many of the people had already left; we hurried on to overtake them, and
as usual went in single file.

The weather had become windy, and the wind blew stronger and stronger as
we went on, until there was hardly any snow left on the ground. It flew
to a great height, and the mist was so thick that I could not see ahead.
My reindeer was going of its own accord. I trusted him to scent and
follow the other reindeer ahead of me. I hurried him on by striking
slightly his right flank with my rein, hoping to overtake the people of
our party.

The wind kept increasing, and seeing no one ahead or behind I became
alarmed.

Where were John and the other fellows? I had no provisions with me.
Where was I? Once in a while, when there was a lull that lasted about a
minute, I saw nothing but huge mountains ahead of me. At sight of them I
became more anxious than ever. I could only hear the shrieking of the
wind, which at times threatened to upset me. Occasionally it blew so
hard that my reindeer had to stop.

My head was entirely hidden by my mask and my hood, which had been made
so secure that I felt it would s