and safe. No one would have dared to touch it, no matter how
hungry he was, for it did not belong to him, and the one who had left it
perhaps depended upon it to sustain his life on his return. We peeped
into the parcel--there was some hard bread, reindeer cheese, and a
smoked reindeer tongue, a coffee kettle and some coffee, and a few small
pieces of wood tied together, to make a fire to cook the coffee with.
This was one of those houses of refuge used only for shelter, without
people to keep them, built especially by the government for that
purpose, in case of sudden storm.

After a while I went out for a walk on my skees, to stretch my legs, for
I had been more than ten hours seated in my sleigh. I took my gun with
me. Soon I spied some hares, and succeeded in killing two. These were
also changing their fur coats; much of their fur was gray, and mixed
with white; the hares were to be gray during the summer months. As white
was their protection in winter against big white owls, foxes, and other
animals, so their gray color would protect them against their enemies in
summer.

"Strange indeed is nature," I said to myself. "In some cases the animals
change their fur so that they can approach their prey without being
seen; in other cases nature changes their fur to protect them against
their enemies."

When I returned I saw that Mikel had prepared our supper. He had fetched
some firewood he had in his sleigh, and a bright fire was burning under
our coffee kettle. Reindeer meat, tongue, and reindeer cheese had been
put on a wooden dish, and two tin cups were ready for the coffee to be
poured into them. We seated ourselves cross-legged on the floor, and
began our meal. What a nice cup of coffee we had! How deliciously it
tasted! How good was our coarse hard black bread and our reindeer
cheese, and smoked reindeer tongue!

After we had drunk our coffee and eaten our supper I noticed that Mikel
was very silent and thoughtful. I wondered if he was thinking of dangers
ahead--of the sudden stopping of our journey,--and just as I was on the
point of asking him why he was so thoughtful he broke the silence
himself and said: "Paulus, I know where there is a big brown bear--a
real big fellow. The Bear's Night is not over with him yet, and he must
be still sleeping under the snow at the place where I saw him last
autumn getting ready to go into his winter quarters."

"You don't say so, Mikel!" I exclaimed. "Is the bear sleeping