“If that’s the case,” said Freddie gloomily, “it looks as though we’ll have to stay here the whole winter and wait to make our attempt to break back to civilisation until the spring.”
Angela smiled at him; she was looking very well and very pretty now that she had recovered from the strain of their flight from Helsinki. “Would you mind having to stay here the whole winter—very much, darling?”
He looked up quickly and a slow smile lit his face. “I suppose it’s my duty to get home as soon as I can, since there’s a war on, but if it isn’t possible that lets me out. There’s masses of food and fuel here so we haven’t got to worry how we’re going to keep alive. Since you’re with me, and I’ve got a perfectly good excuse for staying, nothing else matters as far as I’m concerned.”
“How do you feel about it, darling?” Erika asked Gregory.
He laughed. “Perhaps my loss of memory is a blessing in disguise. If all you tell me about myself is true I suppose I ought to be busy assassinating Hitler or kidnapping President Roosevelt to induce him to come into the war on our side; but as I can’t for the life of me remember what I’m supposed to be up to, there doesn’t seem much sense in my risking being frozen to death in order to get myself back into the middle of this scrap that’s going on. If you’d like to go somewhere I’ll go with you; but if not, I’m perfectly content to stay here.”
She laid her hand gently over his. “I’m so glad you feel like that, dearest. I was afraid you’d want to take all sorts of mad risks to try and get home …”
“Oh, but I never take risks,” said Gregory. “I’m a very cautious person.”
“I’m sure you are,” she smiled. “But I was afraid that you might be anxious to get back to your own country. That would have meant our separating again and, you see, as I now have no country to go to I would much rather stay here with you and rough it than live in a little more comfort in some dreary hotel in Norway or Sweden without you.”
She glanced at the others. “Let’s forget the war. If only we can do that we’ll cheat the gods, and at least snatch a few months’ happiness out of our lives, until the spring.”
As they were apparently safe and well-found where they were, yet could not leave the place while the winter lasted without endangering their lives, Erika’s reasoning seemed sound common sense. All four of them were in love and loved by their opposite members in the party. Their duties would be light, as the girls, between them could easily do the cooking and keep the one room tidy while the men looked after the stove and bath-house, tended the horses and cut fresh fuel when required.
The others nodded, smiling their agreement; but it did not prove so easy to forget the war.
Chapter XXII
Out into the Snow
It was all very well to decide lightly on taking all the happiness they could while hibernating for the winter and on making their retreat a snow-bound Arcady where they could forget the new madness that had come upon the world; but each of them had friends or relatives who were involved in the struggle and, although they could not hope to secure news of individuals, they had a natural anxiety to know how their countries were faring.
Their conference was hardly over when Angela noticed the little wireless set in the far corner of the room which had been half hidden since their arrival by some furs that Gregory had inconsequently tossed across it. Running over with a cry of delight at finding a radio which could give her dance-music, of which she was passionately fond, she pulled away the furs and switched on. The set buzzed and crackled as she turned the knob, then a foreign voice came through which was speaking English.
“Leave it! Leave it!” said Freddie quickly. “We may hear what’s happened to the Finns.”
As they had cut in almost at the begining of a news bulletin they were able to do so. Apparently, Monsieur Errko’s Government had resigned at midnight on the first day of the war to make way for an all-party Government, under Monsieur Risto Ryti, Governor of the Bank of Finland, which was to seek a truce. Their efforts so far had proved unavailing and the Finns had withdrawn a few miles from their actual frontier on the Karelian Isthmus to their most forward posts in the Mannerheim Line, leaving a few small evacuated villages in the hands of the advancing Russians. In one of these Stalin had set up a puppet Government under the Bolshevik, Kuusinen, who had taken refuge in Moscow after the Finnish revolution was suppressed by Marshal Mannerheim in 1918 and had since acted as secretary to the Comintern. A pact between the Soviet and this Puppet Government was now in the course of negotiation while Soviet troops were hurling themselves against the Finnish lines only a few miles away. So far the only success reported by the Russians during the three days’ fighting was the capture of Petsamo, the harbour and fortifications of which had fallen the previous night. On all other fronts the Finns were holding their ground.
After the actual news the commentator gave extracts from the world Press which clearly showed the general horror and indignation which was felt at Russia’s unprovoked attack on Finland, and when he signed off they learnt that they had been listening to one of the Swedish broadcasts in English from Stockholm.
“D’you think the Swedes and Norwegians will go in with the Finns?” Freddie asked Gregory; but evidently Gregory’s mind was now almost entirely blank on the subject of international politics, as he just shook his head in a puzzled way and said:
“I—I’m afraid I don’t even know what they’re fighting about.”
Erika suppressed an exclamation of distress. It seemed utterly tragic to her that his fine brain and brilliant reasoning powers should have been wiped out as though they had never existed. In an attempt to cover his lapse from the others she said quickly:
“It all depends on the Nazis’ attitude. If it’s part of their devil’s pact with Stalin that Russia should have Finland von Ribbentrop will exercise pressure on the Scandinavian countries to prevent their going to the assistance of the Finns. He may even threaten them that Germany would invade them in the south if they do. On the other hand, you can be quite certain that the Nazis don’t mean the Bolsheviks to walk right through Finland to the Swedish iron-ore mines, so there’s just a chance that they may encourage the Swedes and Norwegians to go to the Finns’ support.”
During the afternoon and evening they further explored the resources of their new home. The books, unfortunately, all proved to be in Finnish or Swedish and they could find no games or other diversions in the house, so it looked as though they were going to be entirely dependent upon the radio and their own conversation for amusements during the many weeks ahead of them before the thaw was due to set in. But they soon found that Gregory’s loss of memory provided them with an unusual occupation.
All his previous life, all history, all knowledge except the simple, instinctive things, such as helping to lay the table for a meal and stoking up the fire, seemed to have left him. Every few hours he suffered a bout of acute headache and at times his eyes troubled him, as he found it difficult to focus them properly; but his brain was perfectly sound and once given any piece of information it registered again for good. Moreover, as each subject was broached it seemed to unlock a few cerebral cells here and there so that after he had heard them talking about any matter for a little time he was able to join in the conversation quite normally. Yet the sum of knowledge acquired casually in the active life of an educated man is so vast that, once lost, it is an extraordinarily long business to get even a considerable portion of it back, however quick the learner, and during the process the person who is reacquiring his education appears to have almost endless blanks in his mental make-up. If Freddie said “William the Conqueror, 1066”, Gregory would promptly say, “William II, 1087”, and find himself perfectly well aware that William Rufus met his death while out hunting; but that did not give him the slightest clue to any other period of English history. In consequence, they began to employ themselves with his re-education and, as all they had to do was to talk of a variety of subjects for him to regain h
is knowledge of them, they were amazed at the almost endless interesting discussions which arose as a result of their efforts to help him to get his memory back.
There were no razors in the house so the two men had to grow beards and the girls agreed that during the process they both looked most unattractive; but after a week their bristles began to soften and Freddie had a silky, golden halo round his chin while Gregory’s was black with grey hairs in it, although he had not a single grey hair on his head.
At first Angela had kept the wireless on almost constantly to pick up dance-music as well as news, until Freddie suddenly realised that as they were many miles from a town the set was not run from an electric main but was one of the old-fashioned battery variety and that once the batteries ran down the instrument would be out of action for good. In consequence, he decreed that they must use the radio only to get the news every other evening and for an hour of dance-music as a treat on Saturday nights.
The set was not strong enough to pick up any English station, except very faintly, so they had to content themselves with the English broadcasts of neutral commentators on the Continent and the German broadcasts, which came over very clearly. During their first week Freddie whooped with joy when he learned that on December the 3rd R.A.F. planes had scored direct hits on German warships in the Heligoland Bight and that during the week the British had sunk three submarines and captured a fourth.
A few days later they learned that the King had gone to France and that the franc had been linked with sterling. Rather surprisingly, Gregory seemed to know what this meant and said that the one good thing which so far seemed to have come out of the war was the way in which the British were getting together with the French. By pooling the resources of both nations and making the two great empires one for the duration of the war it looked as though the two groups of countries might continue on those lines afterwards, which might be the first glimmer of a new world order where many, and eventually all, nations would remove their trade barriers and hold their assets in common for the good of mankind.
The Finns appeared to be putting up a magnificent show on the Mannerheim Line, but the Russians were trying desperately hard to break through the chain of lakes that guarded the Finnish frontier further north, and this was a grave danger for, if they succeeded, they would be able to cut through the narrow waist-line of Finland to the Gulf of Bothnia where lay the only railway by which the Finns could get supplies and volunteers from Norway and Sweden.
Russia was now threatening Rumania again, but that was more than offset by the news that Churchill had knocked the bottom out of the Nazi lies about Germany’s success in her ruthless war at sea. The great First Lord had announced that 150 merchant ships were entering or leaving British ports each day, that over 5000 were on the high seas and that the loss of British ships in convoy was only one in seven hundred and fifty. By the end of the week Hitler was busy waging another “nerve” war with threats to both Scandinavia and Holland, while his co-murderer, Stalin, was attempting to blackmail the Turks.
It was on December the 9th—ten days after they left Helsinki—that during the incredibly short morning, when the silent forest was revealed for a little in full daylight, Erika saw through the only remaining glass panes in the window of the house three figures approaching out of the wood with a dog-team and a sleigh. She quickly called to the others and Gregory and Freddie snatched up the rifles which had been left by the Finnish father and son who had died defending their home. But the use of weapons proved quite unnecessary.
The dog-sleigh drove up before the doorway and on going out they saw three strange little figures confronting them. The newcomers were so muffled in furs that it was impossible to tell their sex, as what little could be seen of their brown, wrinkled faces gave no indication of it. Their speech was incomprehensible but by smiles and gestures they indicated that they wished to come into the house, and as in such desolate countries hospitality is always freely offered to strangers Freddie immediately beckoned them inside.
Unharnessing their dogs they came in and sat down in a row, cross-legged on the floor. They did not say anything at all but just sat there waiting. It seemed obvious that they expected to be fed so Erika cooked them a meal. When the food was ready they took some out to their dogs and ate the rest with their fingers, displaying happy, abandoned greed and relish, but they gave no sign of leaving when they had finished. All attempts to converse with them proved quite fruitless and after sitting there belching cheerfully for a little they moved over to the corner beside the stove and curling up in a complicated ball went to sleep.
“Well, what d’you make of that?” Gregory inquired.
“They’re Lapps or Eskimos, I expect,” Freddie said. “When they’ve had their sleep out and another meal they’ll probably go off just as they arrived. But how the poor little devils live in this ghastly wilderness, God only knows.”
The Lapps woke late in the afternoon and going outside took their dogs into the stable; they then returned to the living-room and sat down on the floor in a row again, where they remained until the evening meal was cooked. Having gleefully participated in it, after many appreciative grins and belchings they moved over to the corner and once more went to sleep.
“I wonder if they’ll go off tomorrow morning or if they’ve decided to stay here for keeps,” Freddie remarked.
“Well, if they do stay it doesn’t matter,” Angela replied. “We’ve got plenty of food and they’re nice, harmless little people. It would be a shame to send them packing into the snow.”
When they woke the following morning the Lapps had disappeared, having made off without a sound, but an hour later it transpired that they had not gone for good. They all arrived back in time for a hearty late breakfast; then one of them, who was slightly taller than the other two, beckoned Freddie out of the house. He went obediently and followed his visitor across the clearing some distance into the woods, where the Lapp halted and pointed at the snow. Freddie saw that there were some heavy tracks in it; the Lapp raised his arms as though he were holding a rifle and about to shoot.
Freddie got the idea at once and returning to the house he and Gregory put on snow-shoes, collected the rifles and went back into the forest with their funny little companion. For an hour they followed the tracks, then the Lapp motioned them to halt and went forward himself for about a hundred yards on his hands and knees. After a short interval he beckoned to them to follow and, crawling up, they saw through the trees a fine brown bear.
It seemed a rotten business to shoot that harmless Bruin which was so reminiscent of a large teddy in a children’s toyshop, but they had not tasted fresh meat for nearly a fortnight so, sighting their rifles carefully and aiming just behind the bear’s left foreleg, they fired almost together. The animal reared up on its hind legs, gave a loud grunt and toppled over, dead.
Instantly the Lapp rushed forward brandishing a long knife and fell upon it screeching with delight. In a few moments with swift, skilful cuts he had skinned the bear and, with uncanny suddenness, his two companions appeared, leading their dog-sleigh. The carcase was loaded on to it and the triumphant hunters retraced their steps to the house, reaching it with their kill just as the short afternoon was done and twilight was falling once more. Erika roasted some of the fresh bear’s meat in the oven that evening and after the dried reindeer, to which they had now become accustomed, it tasted delicious; so they all felt that their uninvited guests had more than earned their keep.
As they did not know the Lapps’ names Angela christened the taller one Bimbo and the two shorter ones, who followed him about wherever he went and whose job appeared to be to look after the dogs, Mutt and Jeff. The habits of all three were extremely primitive and after their feast of bear’s meat the gleeful chuckles and other sounds which issued from their corner, once the light had been put out, made it clear that at least one of them was a woman. The following day Freddie definitely ascertained that Bimbo was the man of the party while Mutt and Jeff were
his two wives.
In the days that followed it became clear that the Lapps had decided to winter with them, but far from interfering with the comfort of their hosts they added considerably to it. Bimbo seemed to know instinctively where game was to be found in the trackless forest and he had not been with them long before he added fresh fish to their table. To their amazement he arrived back from one of his expeditions late one evening carrying a large pike in his arms. It is true that most of the tail end of the fish was missing, but the girls cooked the body and it proved a most welcome change to their meat diet.
As they could not ask him where he had caught it, next morning Freddie drew in the snow a picture of a fish, demonstrating that they would like to get another. Bimbo remained unresponsive until the early afternoon, then led them nearly three miles through the forest to a large clearing which looked at first sight to be only a great treeless dip in the snow-covered ground; but on going down into it they found that it was a frozen lake in which at one spot Bimbo had cleared away the snow and hacked a hole through the ice. As twilight fell he lit a lamp that he had brought with him and lowered it on a string to the bottom of the hole, kneeling above it with a thin barbed spear clutched tightly in his hand.
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