chap, v CAIRN CAMP 63 



fortably as possible. The work was done in the open air, 

 whilst cold showers fell, and gusts of wind blew shavings, 

 dust, and every light thing hither and thither in odious 

 errancy. 



The worst trouble was to land the ponies. A small 

 barge had been brought up for this purpose. It was hoisted 

 off the deck by the donkey engine and swung overboard. 

 For a moment it hung in the air, then, with a loud report, 

 the chain snapped and the barge fell and broke asunder in 

 the midst when it dashed upon the water. So a raft had 

 to be made out of planks laid across two whale-boats, and 

 on this platform the trembling animals were safely brought 

 ashore one by one. Great was their joy to feel solid earth 

 beneath their feet. They kicked about with glee and rolled 

 on the ground, then sniffed for grazing, but found little 

 satisfaction on the stony flat, which in a few weeks' time 

 was to yield them so succulent a harvest. 



The crew of the Raftsund worked like fury to get rid of 

 the materials for the hut, for the drift ice greatly increased 

 in amount, setting across from the north and packing into 

 the bay in a continuous stream. The steamer's position had 

 often to be changed, and men in boats poled the big masses 

 away from the neighbourhood of the screw and kept the 

 ship free. At one time it almost looked as though she 

 would be beset, but the tide turned and the danger passed. 

 It was a real danger. A week or so later, when I was in- 

 land, I am informed the ice again set in much more heavily 

 and almost filled the bay, so that, if the Raftsund had then 

 been there, she would assuredly have suffered. Overboard 

 went the hut's materials, the planks into boats or on to the 

 raft ; the beams point downwards into the water, plung- 

 ing right below the surface with a great splash, and almost 

 leaping out again with the recoil. 



We named the ponies Spits and Bergen. Spits was a 



