On their way back, as they neared me I shouted, "Good for you, boys! Good for you! It was splendid." I shook hands with every one of them. They were very much excited over the sport. The hollow over which they leaped seemed to be about ninety-five feet wide, and the place from which they sprang was about twelve or fifteen feet above the bank on the other side. They told me that some of the great leaps in the country had been over one hundred and twenty-five feet. "Is it possible!" I exclaimed; "it seems incredible." Then the Lapp who had passed so near me said to me, "You were afraid I would strike you on my way down. We can pass an object far below us within a few inches when we like. We will show you how we do by and by." The Lapps once more ascended the hill, and I took a new position by the river and waited for them to come down. They started in the same way as before and came down with very great speed, leaped over the gully, and in an instant, seemingly, they were in the air over the river--a leap of about sixty or seventy feet. I shouted again, "Well done, boys! Well done!" I was terribly excited myself. Then they came to me and said: "Now we are going to have a new game." They planted several sticks in the snow in different positions on the declivity of the hill, and said, "Paulus, we are going to show you how near we can come to those sticks; we will almost touch them with our skees." When they were ready I raised my flag. They came down the hill almost with the same rapidity as before, but pushed their guiding sticks deeper into the snow; and most of them came within a few inches of the sticks. After passing one they would change their direction and move to another, either on the left or right, further down. This terminated the day's sport. We returned to our encampment. I had had a day of great delight. CHAPTER XIX WE ENCOUNTER MORE WOLVES.--MY GUIDE KILLS TWO WITH HIS BLUDGEON.--A VISITING TRIP WITH A LAPP FAMILY.--EXTRAORDINARY SPEED OF REINDEER.--WE STRIKE A BOULDER.--LAKE GIVIJAeRVI.--EASTWARD AGAIN. Now I kept a sharp lookout over the horizon as we drove along, for I thought wolves might make their appearance again at any moment. My Lapp guide was also apprehensive. When we stopped for our meals he said to me, "If our reindeer scent or see wolves, they will become uncontrollable. It will be impossible for us to stop them, and if we try to keep in our sleighs we shall be surely upset, for the animals will be so wild from fright. We had better have our skees handy, so that we can throw them out of our sleighs and then jump out ourselves." Then, brandishing his bludgeon, he said fiercely, "I will make short work of some of them. They will never run after any more reindeer." I brandished my gun, and cried, "Woe to the wolves if they come near us. I will give them enough buckshot to make them jump."