QUEEN MAUD'S BIRTHDAY 237 



the cuisine might be. But to return to the feast. Her 

 jMajesty's health was drunk in a very small, but, at the 

 same time, very good tot of aquavit, served in enamelled 

 iron mugs. Carrying alcohol was, of course, against 

 regulations, strictly speaking; but, as everyone knows, 

 prohibition is not an easy thing to put into practice. 

 Even in Antarctica this proved to be the case. Lindstrom 

 had a habit of sending a little surprise packet with each 

 sledging party that went out, and on our departure he 

 had handed us one of these, with the injunction that the 

 packet was only to be opened on some festive occasion ; 

 we chose as such Her Majesty's birthday. On examina- 

 tion the packet was found to contain a little flask of 

 spirits, in which we at once agreed to drink the Queen's 

 health. 



The 27th brought the same nasty weather, and the 

 28th was not much better, though not bad enough to 

 stop us. After a deal of hard work in hauling our 

 buried belongings out of the snow, we got away and 

 continued our course to the north-eastward. It was not 

 exactly an agreeable morning : a brisk wind with driving 

 snow right in one's face. After trudging against this for 

 a couple of hours I heard Stubberud call " Halt!" — half 

 his team were hanging by the traces in a crevasse. I 

 had gone across without noticing anything; no doubt 

 owing to the snow in my face. One would think the 

 dogs would be suspicious of a place like this ; but they 

 are not — they plunge on till the snow-bridge breaks 



