i9l 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 

 w'e 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. I 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 



