follow same trail.
- Come on, let's go.
Meeting those Evenk herdsmen was
really a lucky thing for us.
Being remarkable hunters and trappers,
the Evenks have always been regarded
the best guides
in the Siberian taiga.
They could be
a great help to us
in our search.
If only we could talk them
into coming with us.
Listen, chief, let's trade.
For your one dog
we give you half our dogs.
We'll never be able
to feed all of them.
Dogs in the taiga
find food for themselves.
That's fine for them,
but what about us?
All right, you get
one fat reindeer too.
He's not worth all that.
He's a mean dog. He bites.
Why is he so mean?
Which way you going?
To Mount Yambuy.
Know the place?
- Yambuy?
- Yes.
Don't you know that
Yambuy is a very evil place?
Why is that?
People disappeared there.
Who told you about it?
I know myself. Three years ago
one girl got lost there.
She was never found again.
A man disappeared after that.
He was a very good hunter.
He went hunting for reindeer
and disappeared.
- Did you search well?
- How to search?
They left no trace!
How could they vanish just like that?
What do you think?
My old man told me
better not go up,
because the very evil spirit Hargi
lives in the mountain.
You believe in spirits?
There are many things
in the world...
Even greatest wise men
cannot know all.
Maybe I won't believe in spirits,
if you...
...if you say
how it is that people disappear
and not leave a trace?
We also have lost one of our men.
- Russian?
- Yes, Russian.
You see?
Very angry spirit.
He took many people!
Never enough for the spirit!
Sit down.
You think we stingy?
No, he's old
and cannot eat too much.
If he eats too much,
death will come to him quick.
Is he ill?
You stupid,
like a little calf.
You better understand.
If we give enough food to stuff him,
then he'll get very lazy,
and he will die quick.
Kararbakh knows better than anyone
how to find
good pastures,
how to take care of reindeer,
where to hunt for animals.
Without him, we'll have plenty
trouble crossing the taiga.
Better we lose half our reindeer
than lose Kararbakh.
Why does she punish only one
when both are to blame?
So he will know that food not drop
in his mouth just like that.
Now mother punishes him
because he cannot
find his food.
After, the taiga will punish him.
It will not pity him.
You see,
he don't have ears.
Lost in the taiga, he got hungry.
So he cut own ears off and ate them.
And he stayed alive.
Would you ever get such an idea?
I don't think so.
I can't figure out what's
happening out on that mountain.
One thing I know: the disappearance
of our men was no accident.
What is it, Dolbachi?
People say we must not go
to Yambuy alone.
You need many men to go with you.
So you too believe
Hargi lives there?
Hargi never did
any evil to me,
but one who took people and left
no trace, is very cunning.
Why get wet?
- You can't out-sit the old man.
- I'm waiting to talk to him.
You wait for nothing...
He's long, long time deaf.
No ears,
so tongue started wandering.
What the old man say
only we can understand.
Langara, can you explain it to me?
The Evenks' religion has always
been Orthodox.
So you
and Kararbakh
are Christians, and still
you believe in spirits.
Who wants
your Christ anyhow?
He's way up out in the sky.
He don't see man's great troubles.
But out in the taiga spirits live,
and they know everything!
See everything!
Do not go to Yambuy!
Hear that?
Spirits getting angry!
To Plotkin at Headquarters.
In addition to Petrik and Yefimenko,
in the Yambuy area,
two Evenks also disappeared
just as mysteriously.
I request that
Yelizar Bykov
of Tsybin's crew
be placed at my disposal,
with a guide who knows
the area really well.
All our detachments must
remain where they are.
Thanks for bringing the wood.
We