One afternoon in July it rained frightfully up around Lake Luossajaure.
The Laplanders, who lived mostly in the open during the summer, had
crawled under the tent and were squatting round the fire drinking
coffee.
The new settlers on the east shore of the lake worked diligently to have
their homes in readiness before the severe Arctic winter set in. They
wondered at the Laplanders, who had lived in the far north for centuries
without even thinking that better protection was needed against cold and
storm than thin tent covering.
The Laplanders, on the other hand, wondered at the new settlers giving
themselves so much needless, hard work, when nothing more was necessary
to live comfortably than a few reindeer and a tent.
They only had to drive the poles into the ground and spread the covers
over them, and their abodes were ready. They did not have to trouble
themselves about decorating or furnishing. The principal thing was to
scatter some spruce twigs on the floor, spread a few skins, and hang the
big kettle, in which they cooked their reindeer meat, on a chain
suspended from the top of the tent poles.
While the Laplanders were chatting over their coffee cups, a row boat
coming from the Kiruna side pulled ashore at the Lapps' quarters.
A workman and a young girl, between thirteen and fourteen, stepped from
the boat. The girl was Osa. The Lapp dogs bounded down to them, barking
loudly, and a native poked his head out of the tent opening to see what
was going on.
He was glad when he saw the workman, for he was a friend of the
Laplanders--a kindly and sociable man, who could speak their native
tongue. The Lapp called to him to crawl under the tent.
"You're just in time, Söderberg!" he said. "The coffee pot is on the
fire. No one can do any work in this rain, so come in and tell us the
news."
The workman went in, and, with much ado and amid a great deal of
laughter and joking, places were made for Söderberg and Osa, though the
tent was already crowded to the limit with natives. Osa understood none
of the conversation. She sat dumb and looked in wonderment at the kettle
and coffee pot; at the fire and smoke; at the Lapp men and Lapp women;
at the children and dogs; the walls and floor; the coffee cups and
tobacco pipes; the multi-coloured costumes and crude implements. All
this was new to her.
Suddenly she lowered her glance, conscious that every one in the tent
was looking at her. Söderberg must have said something about her, for
now both Lapp men and Lapp women took the short pipes from their mouths
and stared at her in open-eyed wonder and awe. The Laplander at her side
patted her shoulder and nodded, saying in Swedish, "bra, bra!" (good,
good!) A Lapp woman filled a cup to the brim with coffee and passed it
under difficulties, while a Lapp boy, who was about her own age,
wriggled and crawled between the squatters over to her.
Osa felt that Söderberg was telling the Laplanders that she had just
buried her little brother, Mats. She wished he would find out about her
father instead.
The elf had said that he lived with the Lapps, who camped west of Lake
Luossajaure, and she had begged leave to ride up on a sand truck to seek
him, as no regular passenger trains came so far. Both labourers and
foremen had assisted her as best they could. An engineer had sent
Söderberg across the lake with her, as he spoke Lappish. She had hoped
to meet her father as soon as she arrived. Her glance wandered anxiously
from face to face, but she saw only natives. Her father was not there.
She noticed that the Lapps and the Swede, Söderberg, grew more and more
earnest as they talked among themselves. The Lapps shook their heads and
tapped their foreheads, as if they were speaking of some one that was
not quite right in his mind.
She became so uneasy that she could no longer endure the suspense and
asked Söderberg what the Laplanders knew of her father.
"They say he has gone fishing," said the workman. "They're not sure that
he can get back to the camp to-night; but as soon as the weather clears,
one of them will go in search of him."
Thereupon he turned to the Lapps and went on talking to them. He did not
wish to give Osa an opportunity to question him further about Jon
Esserson.