, THROUGH HELL GATE. 343 



violent gale, while the snow drove and swept so that we could 

 not see our hands before us. 



About three o'clock we found a place where it was just 

 possible to camp, but to pitch a tent in such weather is not easy 

 work if one wishes to avoid having all one's things wet through. 

 On these occasions one man always went into the tent first 

 to receive the things as they were handed in, brush the snow 

 from them and pile them against the opposite wall, but although 

 one may brush and brush till it seems as if there could not be 

 any snow left for a mile round, there is always as much as 

 ever inside the tent, and on the things that have been 

 handed in. 



When one has gone on long enough sweeping the tent and 

 the baggage, one begins to brush one another ; but in spite of all 

 the brushing and beating, given and received, so much fresh 

 snow is blown on to one again that at last one is obliged to 

 creep into the tent with any amount of it still on one's clothes. 

 Then the door is hooked, the inner tent well drawn down, and 

 the brushing begins anew. First, each man has a thorougli 

 overhauling, then all the things are moved over towards the tent- 

 door, and the opposite side is swept clear of snow. Then comes 

 the turn of all the packages by the door, and each one is brushed 

 and put back in its proper place. "When all this has been done, 

 the floor of the tent is thoroughly swept. 



All this brushing being brought, to an end even on such an 

 evening as this the bags are spread out, the ' Primus ' begins 

 its cheerful singing, the cooking-pot is put on, and one changes 

 one's footgear. The demands of one's inner man satisfied and 

 one's pipe alight, it is with a curious feeling of satisfaction 

 that one lies listening to the storm outside, as it hammers 

 and beats without ceasing on the walls of the tent. But if 

 one is to be thoroughly at ease one must be sure that the 

 wind is not such that it is likely to tear the tent to ribbons, 

 and of this we could feel pretty sure that evening ; the gale was 

 not so violent but that I knew that our strong tent would hold. 

 Very different is it when one lies expecting the tent to go at 

 every gust of wind, or when one has to sit round the walls in 



