204 ON THE BARRIER 



to find out for certain but no doubt he waved his arms 

 too. If a stranger had stood and watched us that 

 morning on the ridge, he would surely have taken us for 

 a lot of incurable lunatics. The way seemed long that 

 day, but at last we got there and heard the full explana- 

 tion. The Terra Nova had come in at midnight. Our 

 watchman had just gone below for a cup of coffee 

 there was no harm in that and when he came up again, 

 there was another ship lying off the foot of the Barrier. 

 He rubbed his eyes, pinched his leg, and tried other 

 means of convincing himself that he was asleep, but 

 it was no good. The pinch especially, he told us after- 

 wards, was horribly painful, and all this led him to the 

 conclusion that there really was a second vessel there. 



Lieutenant Campbell, the leader of the eastern party, 

 which was to explore King Edward VII. Land, came 

 on board first, and paid Nilsen a visit. He brought the 

 news that they had not been able to reach land, and 

 were now on their way back to McMurdo Sound. 

 From thence it was their intention to go to Cape North 

 and explore the land there. Immediately after my 

 arrival Lieutenant Campbell came on board again and 

 gave me the news himself. 



We then loaded our sledges and drove home. At 

 nine o'clock we had the great pleasure of receiving 

 Lieutenant Pennell, the commander of the Terra Nova, 

 Lieutenant Campbell, and the surgeon of the expedi- 

 tion, as the first guests in our new home. We spent 



