A MONTH IN THE OLD DISCOVERT HUT 209 



Scott he inspected it, and in the afternoon we shifted camp 

 up on to the ledge, whence we could not drift out to sea if 

 the blizzard increased. 



" I snoozed about an hour during the night, pulled the 

 flaps of my bag tight, and apart from frozen toes — partly owing 

 to my home-made sealskinjfinnesko being too tight — and shivers 

 in the back, and the soppy nature of all my clothing, I was 

 pretty comfortable ! 



" We roused at 7 a.m., and I had to wait half an hour 

 before my fur mits thawed out enough to be wearable. We 

 finished up our pemmican and biscuits. Birdie was cook, 

 and as usual took too little for himself, and made a fuss about 

 filling up his own pot. 



" We packed up at 8. 1 5, and found that the wind helped 

 us materially. The ice seemed firmer here, and near Inac- 

 cessible Island we crossed tracks and a silk line, evidently due 

 to Simpson's balloon experiments. We rounded Cape Evans 

 and saw the open water less than a mile off, so that we were 

 pretty close to it at Razorback. 



"Another hundred yards and we saw the hut with two 

 men moving about. We went on silently (by order), and 

 saw Lashley stand up, look our way and stand rigid. Then 

 he spoke to Anton (who phlegmatically took no notice) and 

 bolted into the hut. Soon they came streaming out in all 

 sorts of overcoats, etc., Demetri and Lashley leading, Day 

 next, Ponting, Anton, Simpson, and Hooper ! " 



Nelson was asleep, and Clissold too interested in some 

 cooking ! 



We learnt that all had gone well except that one pony 

 (Hackenschmidt) had died of inanition and a bullet ! 



We pulled on, and Birdie fell into the broad tide crack. 

 I got across safely with the ice-axe and so to the hut. 



I noticed the fine door-knobs, and the wooden number 



on our front door. The kitchen looked O.K. with 

 bright tins and acetylene lighting, and all else was 

 much about the same. 



Postscript (that evening). 



" Here am I in the hut, using my fountain-pen again 

 after twelve weeks without refilling — only it's made a blob ! 



p 



