THE GRANITE HARBOUR EXPEDITION 403 



with safety at either end if he desired. I was, however, very 

 glad later to find that Pennell also considered the pack abso- 

 lutely impossible for sledging from the ship. 



We saw her during the next few days, and then she never 

 showed up again. 



On the 27th a blizzard started, which we hoped would 

 move out the ice. It tore our sledge flags badly, so that we 

 brought them down from our distress signal 350 feet up the 

 glacier, leaving the big depot flag there. 



It was very trying work with the blubber stove, for there 

 was no shelter on the Cape. When there was any wind the 

 flames would blow out of the door and gave no heat at all. 

 The water did not get tepid in half an hour, whereas on a 



"^fexvre in <30 fr. Berg t Ca.pe "Roberts 2.0-itz 



calm day it would boil in twenty minutes. I spent an hour 

 trying to cook the fry, and barely succeeded in melting the 

 fat. We decided that the stove could not be used in high 

 winds, even though it was in a sort of ice cave and the cook 

 sat in the door to keep the wind out ! 



Our rations had been cut down by half for a fortnight. 

 We now had three or four biscuits a day ; butter, every other 

 day ; chocolate, one stick ; pemmican, one-eighth ; sugar and 

 tea, two-thirds a day. However, we had plenty of seal meat, 

 and as we were not working we required much less food. 



So passed several days. The tide-crack was groaning all 

 round the Cape, large pieces of floes floating loose in it, and 

 jostling each other as the swell came in from the open water 



