Erika sighed with relief. If he could remember that sort of thing it showed that his past was not a complete blank and that gradually he might recover his memory entirely.
"That's right, old chap," Freddie encouraged him. "But as I was saying, you've got plenty of money so we could hire some of the fishermen to take us out in a boat along the coast until we sighted a neutral or British ship; then we'd go aboard and pay our passage back to civilization."
Erika lighted one of her few remaining cigarettes. "I think you're underestimating the difficulties, Freddie. You're thinking of the Arctic as though it was the South Coast of England, with towns and villages along it every few miles; but it isn't like that at all. Between Petsamo and Murmansk I doubt if there are more than half a dozen scattered fishing settlements and those will be inhabited only by Lapps. We can't talk their language and, even if we could explain to them what we wanted, the only sort of boat they'd have is the Eskimo kayak a little canoe affair the top of which is covered with skin. We'd need one apiece with an oarsman to propel us and I don't suppose their maximum range is more than twenty miles. The whole world to such people consists of their village and the nearest trading station, and for them to sight a steamer up in those parts is an event which may not happen once in two or three years. If we did as you suggest our chances of picking up a vessel which would take us to a civilized port are unbelievably remote; and on„our way to the coast we might easily get lost and die of cold in this accursed snow."
"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 civilization 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 oil. The set buzzed and crackled as she turned the knob, then a foreign voice came through which was speaking English.
"Leave it I Leave it!” said Freddie quickly. "We may hear what's happened to the Finns."
As they had cut in almost at the beginning 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 Butcher 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."