ushing with great rapidity; this made me shudder. In some
places there were large pools of water.

It was getting really warm. Some days my "pesh" was comfortable, at
other times it was much too warm, the thermometer reaching 48 to 50
degrees in the shade and 86 to 88 degrees in the sun. The dripping from
the melted snow came into the river from the hills, and had succeeded in
many places in melting the ice on the banks. This travelling was no
joke. I followed Mikel, and watched him constantly, fearing that his
reindeer and sleigh would disappear under the ice. Travelling appeared
to become more and more perilous as we followed the Muonio southward. At
times I could hear the angry water under the ice striking against
boulders, and this became quite common.

At last I shouted to Mikel, "Let us travel on the land, for surely if we
do not we shall fall through the ice and be engulfed."

"We cannot," he shouted back, "the snow is too soft. Our reindeer could
not pull our sleighs. We can get along much better on the river, though
the ice is very bad. Trust in me, Paulus. I have made this journey over
the Muonio River many times before, but you must follow me very closely,
for sometimes I shall have to pass near rotten ice or open spots."

"I will follow you carefully, dear Mikel. Go on! Go on!" I said.

So I followed Mikel closely, as he had bade me, but what thumps our
sleighs would sometimes get on the now uneven ice of the river!
Fortunately they were very strongly built.

We slept at a place called Songamuodka. In the morning it snowed, but
the flakes were big and soft and melted as they fell on the old snow. I
met no more herds of reindeer, but since I had left on my journey
southward I had seen between sixty-five and seventy thousand of them.

Two days after I saw the church spire of Pajala, rested there, and on
the 24th of May, as I was travelling on the Torne River, I passed once
more the Arctic Circle. It was raining. I was told that it was the first
rain that had fallen for over seven months.

Here I said good-bye to the good Mikel and thanked him cordially for the
care he had taken of me.

I had now left the kingdom of the "Long Night," and the "Long Day" was
to rule over the land through which we have travelled together.

Now, my dear Young Folks, Friend Paul has come back, as you bade him,
and I hope you have enjoyed our travelling together in "The Land of the
Long Night." Good-bye. Do not forget your