1911] A NARROW ESCAPE 137. 
and we could hear the eerie wave of sound expanding like a 
ripple all around. Sometimes one could see the whole snow 
surface sinking slightly, and at first the effect was very unpleasant. 
We had been roped for two miles and were still ascending. 
We now began to get among crevasses, though few were visible 
through the thick sheet of snow. Quite suddenly I slipped in 
to the thigh, and sounding with the ice axe just in front found 
two inches of snow over the crevasse and very little more behind 
me. I was evidently standing in a narrow bridge. At the same 
time Evans called out that he was over another about 15 feet 
behind, so that for a few moments things were rather involved. 
He got back on to firmer ground and hauled me back, and when 
we saw the surface begin to cave in bodily we decided in Evans’ 
graphic language to ‘ give it a miss.’ 
We seemed to be in the least impossible part of the pass, and 
I could see plenty worse ahead. So I decided to abandon this 
route and continue down the Ferrar to Butter Point and so 
reach the Koettlitz Glacier via the Piedmont Glacier. 
During our absence Wright had also slipped into a crevasse 
while fixing the stake nearest Cathedral Rocks. We inspanned 
after lunch and moved down the glacier to our old camp at 
the mouth of the Ferrar. 
The morning of February 13 was bright and clear. We 
could see no change in the sea ice filling New Harbour where 
we had crossed it a fortnight before. I therefore headed south- 
east towards Butter Point. Here we had an experience that 
might have ended our journey prematurely. 
We got along at a good rate for two miles, when Evans 
drew my attention to something black sticking up in the ice just 
ahead. 
We had noticed an unusual creaking sound, which I put down 
to ice crystals falling, but this strange object demanded investi- 
gation. J ran forward a little, and the black spike was obviously 
the back fin of a killer whale. The creaking was really a warning 
that the bay ice was on the move. Meanwhile the ice I was on 
moved off with a jolt, a mark of attention from the killer which 
we did not appreciate. However I jumped the three-foot crack 
which resulted and we hastened to the fixed ice nearly two miles 
south. It was a case of ‘ festina lente.’ We couldn’t drag the 
heavy sledges more than 2 miles an hour and were continually 
