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 round the fire drinking coffee.  
The new settlers on the east shore of the lake worked 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 and a tent.
 
They only had to drive the poles into the ground and spread the covers over them, and their were ready. They did not have to trouble themselves about decorating or furnishing. The principal thing was to some spruce 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 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 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 and 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 wonderme............