"So there are," Godfrey said. "Six or eight of them and a lot of cattle."
"Reindeer!" Luka corrected. "Samoyede village."
"Why, there must be hundreds of them," Godfrey said in surprise.
"Yes, the Ostjaks told me in our old camp that many of the Samoyedes had five hundred, and some of them a thousand reindeer. They keep them just as we do cattle. Their wealth is counted by their reindeer. They make their clothes of its skin; its milk and flesh are their chief food. It draws their sledges, and when they want money they can sell some of them."
"Did you ask how much they can be sold for?"
"Yes, the Ostjaks said that they were worth here two or three roubles each."
"Then if there are many of these encampments along the shore, Luka, we need not trouble about food; and if anything happens to our boat we can make a couple of sledges, buy four reindeer, and start by land."
"Then we should have to wait until winter," Luka said.
"Yes, that would be a nuisance; but it would not be so very long to wait. I had no idea reindeer were so cheap. If I had I think instead of spending the winter hunting I would have bought some reindeer and started to drive. Still it would have been a terrible journey, and perhaps we have done better as it is. Well, shall we land? What do you think?"