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AFTER THE DAYS MARCH. 



CHAPTER IX 



ASCENT OF GRIT RIDGE 



AT 5.30 P.M. (July 6) Gregory started for his thirty-mile 

 YY bog-tramp to Advent Bay. He went forth in the 

 gayest fashion, saying it was some time since he had walked 

 fifty miles at a stretch, but that he thought this thirty might 

 be counted as an equivalent, which indeed was true. The 

 Trident fired a salute of falling stones in his honour. Things 

 having been set in order in and about the tents, films changed 

 in the cameras, and lunch packed, Garwood and I also left, 

 at seven p.m., for a mountain scramble. Our plan was to 

 descend the main valley to the mouth of the first or Delta 

 Valley, which penetrates the high land just beyond Sticky 

 Keep. We mounted gradually over the foot-slopes of that 

 hill, thus gaining an ever wider view towards Sassen Bay, 

 whither we looked in vain for traces of our over-due com- 

 panions. The bay was practically clear of ice, save a few 

 isolated floes, and its waters were so incredibly calm that 

 the Sentinel Rock and all the details of the Temple's facade 

 were repeated below. It was a day of wonderful colour ; 



