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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.
I did not wonder when I saw this that I had felt so warm during the night. I was the first to be up. I shook Mikel's bag and shouted to him, "Get up, Mikel," and as his head peeped out of his bag, I said "Good-morning," and he cried "Good-morning, Paulus." Then we took our breakfast. The reindeer, while we were asleep, had dug through the snow to the lichen and fed, and now were quietly resting.
I shouted back to them, and the last words I heard were: "Lucky journey, Paulus, come to see us again, come to see us again." We entered the birch forest soon after our departure. We had great difficulty in driving among the trees. I was glad our reindeer were not as frisky as in the earlier part of the winter. I could hardly follow the track of Mikel, and sometimes I could not do so at all.
Suddenly I was awakened by a shaking of Mikel, and as I opened my eyes he said, "Paulus, what is the matter? You have been shouting." I was in a profuse perspiration. I had again had nightmare from lying on my back. I was fighting with a big bear which had seized me, and we were wrestling and I was getting the worst of it, and when ready to fall down in his grasp I had given a big scream.
"All right," replied Mikel; "we will go after the bear." "Mikel," said I "before we stretch ourselves on the floor and go to sleep, tell me how you know that the bear is at the spot you suppose and that he is spending his winter night there." Mikel took a big pinch of snuff and replied: "Paulus, I think I am the only one, that knows where this bear is sleeping, for I have kept it a secret.
I wondered if the change took place for his own protection and advantage. When white he could not be seen so easily by the creatures upon which he preyed, and when bluish he could not be so easily seen as if he had remained white. When I returned Mikel was stretched on his back on the snow with his arms spread out, and was snoring like a good fellow. Oh, what a noise he made!
During the day preparations were made for the hunt. The next morning men gathered, taking their guns and big long sticks, with pikes at the ends to prod the bear with; and all the dogs of the place followed us. Many men started on their skees, others in their sleighs. According to Mikel the bear was about thirty miles away.
I looked forward with great pleasure to the prospect of a good warm meal of reindeer meat and good reindeer broth. These people were great friends of Mikel, and they agreed to give us some of their reindeer that were not as fagged out as ours. I was delighted. How I enjoyed the warm reindeer meat and the reindeer broth! It was fine! I was so hungry.
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.
At this time of the year the slightest noise will arouse a bear, for by this time he has ceased to sleep soundly." Then he added: "We have had very little sleep since we left the coast, Paulus; we need a good rest before we go after the bear." "Yes," said I, "my eyes ache for want of a good long sleep." We stretched ourselves on the earth floor, and soon after I heard the snoring of Mikel.
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