t to get them as guns. They don't use them in
these parts, Luka."

"I can make them," Luka said; "not as good as the Ostjaks' bows, but
good enough to kill with."

"That is satisfactory, Luka. If I can get hold of a gun and you can make
a bow and arrows we shall do very well."

For four days they continued their journey through the forest, gathering
much fruit, chiefly strawberries and raspberries, and eating sparingly
of their bread. At night they lit fires, for the evenings were still
cold, and slept soundly beside them. On the fifth morning Godfrey said,
"We must turn south now, Luka, our bread won't last more than two days
at the outside, and we must lay in a fresh supply. We have kept as near
west as we could, and we know by the mountains that we cannot be far
wrong, still it may take us some time to find a village." To Godfrey's
satisfaction they arrived at the edge of the forest early in the
afternoon.

"We cannot be very far from Nertchinsk," he said. "We must be careful
here, for there are lots of mines in the neighbourhood."

After walking for another three or four hours several large buildings
were seen among the trees in the valley, and these it was certain
belonged to one or other of the mines. When it became dark they
descended still farther, and kept down until they came upon a road. This
they followed until about midnight they came upon a small village. They
found, as they had hoped, bread and other provisions upon several of the
window-sills, and thankfully stowing these away again struck off to the
hills.

"This is capital," Godfrey said, as after getting well into the forest
they lighted a fire, threw themselves down beside it, and made a hearty
meal. "If we could rely upon doing as well as this always I should not
mind how long our journey lasted. It is glorious to be out in these
woods after that close prison."

The Tartar nodded. The closeness of the air in the prison never troubled
him, but he was quite ready to agree to anything that Godfrey might say.
"Good in summer," he said, "but not very good in winter."

"No, I expect not; but we shall have to make the best of it, Luka, for
it is quite certain that we shall have to spend the winter out
somewhere."

"We will make skin coats and keep ourselves warm," Luka said
confidently. "Make a good hut."

"Yes, that part of the thing seems simple enough," Godfrey agreed; "the
difficulty will be in feeding ourselves. But we need not bother abo