72 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING 



sang " Rings on her Fingers and Bells on her Toes," which 

 often has a calming effect on the penguins. 



Perhaps the choir was not in unison ; anyhow, the pen- 

 guins waddled off, and " Dr. Bill " followed hot-foot. They 

 lay down on their white shirt-fronts, and propelled themselves 

 vigorously with their strong hind legs. (" Hind " seems 

 necessary, for in this position the flippers resemble legs more 

 than wings.) " Dr. Bill" came a cropper, and involuntarily 

 copied their movements, and then, seeing they were less 

 alarmed when he was prone on the floe, he crawled towards 

 them, singing winsomely the while. When a quarter of a 

 mile from the ship, a final leap, " swift as the striking cobra," 

 landed him on them, and he grabbed one. His further efforts, 

 hampered by a lusty penguin, were not successful, and he 

 returned reluctantly to his comrades, to find them exhausted 

 with laughing at his comical career all over the floe. Our 

 chief penguin-charmer (Meares) declares that he can drive 

 away any penguin by singing " God save," as he calls it. But 

 this is a post hoc, propter hoc statement, for we do not permit 

 him to attempt this dangerous experiment until they show 

 signs of melting away. 



Christmas being imminent, we felt it necessary to add to 

 our scanty penguin provender. A flock of nine were seen 

 about six hundred yards off, and four of us, armed with a 

 shot-gun and mauser, lowered the pram (a dinghy with a long 

 upturned prow) over the side and headed for the penguins. 



Six hundred yards does not seem far, but it took a long 

 time to traverse. There was just about room to turn round 

 in the water alongside the Terra Nova. Then a choked lane 

 led by a zigzag course to a large sheet of water away to the 

 west. The floes were ioo feet across and the spaces between 

 filled with spongy floe and by chunks of ice, which were 

 readily removable by the Terra Nova, but which we could 

 hardly move. However, by dint of pushing and prodding 

 and hauling the pram over ice-foot we got to the open water 

 and then pulled over to the penguins. They were needed for 

 food, else it seemed cruel to drift down upon them singing 

 our siren song. Five fell at the first volley and four moved 

 off rapidly to the north. Again we skirted the floe and 

 bagged three more. The fourth was shot also but slipped 

 into a hole, and when we cautiously tramped over a floe — 



