372 WITH SCOTT : THE SILVER LINING 



it was possible to get some idea of the distance of the horizon. 

 In this case 



D = ^500 = 23 miles, 



so that the break-up of the ice seemed far enough off. To 

 the north by Point Disappointment I could see the ugly- 

 patch of snow-slush which had nearly engulfed Gran and 

 myself. 



We had a merry meal that evening, at which we decided 

 to have a sweepstake on the day of the arrival of the ship. 

 But we could not decide on the prize. We wanted lots of 

 things at the moment, but they would all be plentiful when 

 we got aboard, and money was obviously of no value. 

 Finally Gran had a brilliant idea, and suggested that the 

 winner should have the first bath ! Even this suggestion 

 met with disapproval, for some one pointed out that we 

 should have no clean things on board, and would be sledging 

 for weeks after at Evans Coves, and so might as well not 

 have a bath at all ! 



Debenham and I continued our discussions on Tennyson 

 and Browning. We both preferred the latter, but Debenham 

 used to try to prove that Tennyson was the better poet. 

 Gran would join in occasionally, and was always ready to give 

 an opinion on some debated stanza of Browning's. " What 

 porridge had John Keats," according to our Norwegian critic, 

 contained an abstruse reference to the gentleman's brains ! 

 Poor Forde was out of it in these discussions, and we used 

 to discuss naval matters as a change, for his benefit. But our 

 Irish mate was essentially a man of action, and was as far 

 removed from a facile speaker as any man I've met. " The 

 Bishop orders his Tomb ' was a poem which had a fasci- 

 nation for me. Many a weary mile has passed unnoticed, 

 while I have memorized line after line of that somewhat 

 lugubrious poem. 



On the 1 2th Gran found two skua eggs. The poor 

 mothers seemed wet and miserable, and Gran affirmed that 

 the second was sitting in a nest full of water, and seemed 

 relieved to be free of her charge. We collected a few every 

 day from now onward. They are smaller than a hen's egg, 

 and of a brown colour, with irregular black, tawny and buff 

 flecks irregularly scattered over the shell. 



