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We must have been making so much noise that Dopani heard us. His sleigh came racing back through the woods. By the time he arrived we were on our feet but still laughing. He pulled up in front of us and stopped. We had no sleighs and no reindeer. He couldn't seem to believe his eyes. He looked like a cartoon character-maybe Wile E. Coyote-flattened by a passing truck. Or else he looked like a cowboy who had returned to find two dumb city dudes missing thejr horses, only this was the Arctic version and we were missing our reindeer. It was the most perfect double take I had ever seen. �Sorry. � Paige said. "Our reindeer left without us, H I said "Sorry:' Paige said again. "I'm really sorry." For some reason the fact that she k.ept apologizing made me start g;ggling again, which set Paige off too. "The reindeer went home," I pointed out "We hope they went home," Paige said. "They went thataway," I said. Dopani was obviously very concerned about his reindeer. He gave us one last look of disbelief "AII of a sudden you want me to force him to go faster." We walked and walked. Sometimes-for no son that I could see-my reindeer decided to stop and no amount of jiggling his rope would make him go. The deer didn't have any bits in their mouths, only ropes their necks, so they were pretty much able to do they wanted. Then Waluk realized Dopani was nowhere sight. He decided to gallop. I tried to suggest to him that slow down, but it was pretty clear my reindeer had little or n respect for me. He charged on. I figured Paige and her reindeer were probably galloping right behind. We were going at top speed in twi light too dark for me to have any clue where we were head ed. I hoped the reindeer knew where they were going. There were paths all through the woods where snowmobiles had traveled at various times. Some led to the right, others to the left.. For all I knew, the reindeer had decided to take us in a completely different direction from the one Dopani and his reindeer had gone. We headed down a hill at full gallop. At the bottom of the hill was an ice-and*snow-covered river, stretching through the trees. swerved. There was no trail here, the snow was incredibly deep and I was fairly certain this wasn't the direction we were meant to go in. I looked over my shoulder. Paige and her rein deer had also gone off the trail into the snow. Paige was standing along her sleigh, waist-deep in virgin snow, holding her reindeer's rope. the lower half of her had vanished completely. Her reindeer was glaring at her as if it was her fault. I was so surprised, and they looked so funny, that without thinking I slid off my sleigh. I tried to hold on to Waluk's rope, but it slipped from my mitten. Waluk staggered in the snow in Paige's direction, rope and sleigh dragging behind. "Paige," I yelled, "Grab my reindeer's rope!" I don't know what happened. Paige leaned forward to try to grab my rope, but she missed and at the same time lost Bela's rope. The two reindeer suddenly looked at each other, then-with glee-at us, and simultaneously bolted. With the empty sleighs dragging behind them, they ran for the bushes and disappeared into the woods We were alone, 450 miles north of the Arctic circle, with darkness falling. Dopani was nowhere in sight, we had no clue where the cabin was and we had been warned about recent wolf sightings. It was then I remembered aJl those best-selling books condensed in Reader's Digest that I had always read with fascinated interest. "Storm on Mt. Everest," "Lost in the Jungles of New Guinea," "Attacked by a Grizzly" and "Earthquake!" had nothing on this. At the time, this seemed hilarious. I guess Paige thought so too, because we were both laughing so hard that Paige actually fell down in the snow. I was trapped, waist deep, laughing helplessly. It was ages before we could stagger to our feet. Every time I tried to get up I thought of how I had come all this way only to be dumped by a reindeer, which made me topple over again. and took off. We stood watching him as, pulled by his reindeer, he ran up the hill and disappeared. Now the two women were a/one, lost in the Arctic the temperature dropping as night fell, I to myself and started to laugh again. We began hiking down the trail. It was pretty dark aloud to Paige if we would have to spend the nigl,tslee"ing in the snow. Many people froze to death. To hypoth,.rm'" one of the women remembered, never or you will drift into unconsciousness. Hours in the Arctic twilight as she struggled to keep "Those poor reindeer," Paige said. "I hope they're " 1 sort of figure we won't freeze to death," I said. I so overheated from struggling to move in my Arctic that perspiration was pouring off me. "We might though, before we're found. Of course, I'm not yet-not after that lunch. I do feel kind of bad eating that reindeer meat, though. Do you think were getting even?" "How far do you think we've walked?" Paige said. "We've been walking for hours," t said. "Hours and We don't even know if we're on the right trail. How "At least fifteen minutes," Paige said with concern. "Oh, lordy]" t said. "The one thing t know was that "Why?" said Paige. "Urn," I said. "I don't remember. I guess reindeer sled dogs urinate on it. Or wolves. We could be attack.ed by wolves. They ate a reindeer up around here recently." "Yes," said Paige. "There iHe three wol .... es in Norway. � "Total populationr "Yup,'" said Paige. "That's a lot," I said. "I like wolves, though. I don't mind being attacked by a wolf." Eventually we made it to the cabin. It was about a hundred yards away. John was waiting for us, and when we were about fifty yards away he decided to go out and look for us-so he gave us a lift in the snowmobile the last fifty yards Inside the hut a fire was roaring. There were clean sheets, sleeping bags and enough food to feed thirty people. His mother had provided cheese, bread, salad, rein deer stew and coffee, along with tea, and juice, and pasta salad and I can't even remem ber what else. Then there was our supply of emergency rations-the dried fruit, nuts, vodka, wine and Krug. John couldn't seem to get over our near-death experience. Obviously he was worried we might get into other trouble. HDo you want me to leave my cellular phone with you?" he said. We shook our heads. The two women prided themselves on their tough ness, their ability to live in the wilderness without supplies. "Well then, I will leave you in your wilderness Arctic cabin for the nig ht, H he said. So he left, saying he'd pick us up at seven the next morning. The adventure was basically over except, "What would we do if one of us got appendicitis in the middle of the night?" wondered Paige. "Or if a bear broke in, looking for toothpaste." "Or a arunken reindeer nerder." "I think he'd be sorry." "Me too." We were grasping at straws. There was nothing to do but build up the fire and open our chilled bottle of Krug. I don't know what we're going to come up with next time. Having adventures nowadays, as I say, really isn't all that easy. �