272 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Feb. 



which had grown so familiar, on the hills of which we knew 

 every ridge and fold, on the paths which oar footsteps had so 

 often trodden, and on the huts and other signs of human life 

 which we were leaving behind us. One wonders what is 

 happening now in that lonely solitude, once the scene of so 

 much activity ! 



In the afternoon we ran alongside the ice-edge in an inlet 

 on the north side of the glacier tongue ; soon the ' Terra 

 Nova ' was rubbing sides with us, and our whips were rigged 

 for coaling. The weather by this time had cleared and the 

 wind had almost dropped, but we knew that these conditions 

 were not likely to last long, and officers and men buckled to 

 with a will to remedy the alarmingly empty state of our 

 bunkers. Late in the afternoon the 'Morning' suddenly 

 appeared around the corner. She had been driven far to 

 leeward by the gale, but at length had worked up and found 

 some shelter in the New Harbour, where also the ice had 

 recently broken away for the first time for two years. 



By midnight we had received fifty tons of coal from the 

 ' Terra Nova,' and that ship stood out in the offing. A 

 northerly breeze had sprung up, and we were now obliged to 

 go round to the south side of the glacier to get alongside the 

 ' Morning.' Notwithstanding the long hours which they had 

 already worked, our people elected to go right on throughout 

 the night, and soon more coal sacks were being tumbled on 

 board. 



Now, as always, the manner in which our people undertook 

 a heavy task and worked on at it without rest was a sight for 

 the gods. Perhaps the strongest support of this splendid spirit 

 was the fact that on such occasions, by mutual consent, there 

 was no distinction between officers and men. At such times 

 our geologist could be seen dragging coal bags along 

 the decks, whilst the biologist, the vertebrate zoologist, 

 lieutenants and A.B.'s, with grimed faces and chafed hands, 

 formed an indistinguishable party on the coaling whips. I 

 did not matter how formidable might be the scientific designa- 

 tion of any officer : in time of difficulty and stress he was 



