364 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Sept. 



interior, following ourselves with all the haste we can compass. 

 Only when door and ventilator are tied have we time to look 

 about us, and then the sight is not pleasant. The powdery 

 snow-dust lies inches deep everywhere ; it has covered every- 

 thing we possess, and lies thick in every crack of the sleeping- 

 bag. We ourselves are white from head to foot, and none of 

 us but is keenly frost-bitten about the face, whilst one has two 

 of his fingers white to the knuckles. Something hot is what 

 all need, and we set about to get it with the least possible 

 waste of time, whilst we brush the snow as best we can from 

 our belongings. 



Supper makes one feel better, and immediately after we 

 unroll the sleeping-bag and commence to prepare ourselves 

 for entering it. We know from experience what all this snow 

 will mean ; we cannot wholly banish it, and the icy condition 

 of our belongings is nothing to what it will be ; yet we sweep 

 and sweep as diligently as may be with our fur mits to make 

 the best of a bad job, till finally we lift the cover of the bag 

 and settle ourselves with all possible care within. 



It is curious to lie like this in a blizzard ; luckily the 

 temperature has gone up, as it always does on these occasions. 

 The rise is apparent in every way ; we can handle things more 

 easily, our breath does not rise in such steaming clouds ; but, 

 above all, there is a milder and easier feel in the air once one 

 is out of the lash of the wind. Our discomforts now come 

 more from the miserably chilly wetness of everything than from 

 the actual cold. 



Meanwhile the storm without is raging unabated, and the 

 thin canvas of the tent is flapping with a continuous roar that 

 drowns all noise within ; conversation can only be carried on 

 by shouting. Still, the main point is that we are all in the 

 sleeping-bag and safe and sound if not very comfortable, so in 

 due course we settle ourselves in its depths and draw over us 

 the protecting flap. There will be no shivering to-night at 

 any rate, and we can smoke our pipes with greater ease in 

 consequence ; here, in the depths of the bag, the mad flapping 

 of the tent has sunk to distant thunder. 



