MOVING COAL 209 



could no longer get at the coal, and on further investiga- 

 tion it looked rather difficult. The roof of the place 

 where the coal was stored had yielded to the pressure of 

 the mass of snow, and the whole edifice had collapsed. 

 There was nothing to be done but to set to work at 

 once, and after a great deal of hard labour we got the 

 remainder of the precious fuel moved into the long snow 

 tunnel that led from the house to the coal-store. With 

 that our " black diamonds " were in safety for the time 

 being. This job made us about as black as the 

 *' diamonds." When we came in the cook, as it happened, 

 had just been doing a big wash on his own account — a 

 comparatively rare event — and there was surprise on 

 both sides. The cook was as much taken aback at 

 seeing us so black as we were at seeing him so clean. 



All the snow-shovelling that resulted from the con- 

 tinued bad weather, in conjunction with the necessary 

 preparations for the sledge journey, gave us plenty of 

 occupation, but I will venture to say that none of us 

 would care to go through those days again. We were 

 delayed in our real work, and delay, which is impleasant 

 enough in any circumstances, was all the more un- 

 welcome down here, where time is so precious. As 

 we only had two sledges on which to transport supplies 

 for three men and sixteen dogs, besides all our outfit, 

 and as on our trip we should have no depots to fall 

 back on, the duration of the journey could not be 

 extended much beyond six weeks. In order to be back 



