268 ICE-BOUND ON KOLGUEV 



But, bless you, sir, .'taint no manner of use so long as 

 this east wind lasts.' 



And our rain wouldn't stop. So at 2.30 a.m. the 

 Samoyeds went off in a real pelter. We had never seen 

 the deer travel so fast before. For now they were clean 

 moulted. I must confess I envied Hyland his hut. It 

 is true that the wet would trickle down the walls in 

 places, but I was flooded. There was just one dry 

 corner in the tent, and here I curled up. But sleep was 

 out of the question. Every moment I thought the tent 

 must go. But it stood wonderfully. That is the best 

 point about these ' Whymper ' tents, and a very strong 

 point it is. But to pretend that they are waterproof is 

 not even reasonable humour. 



The rain did stop at five o'clock. I contrived a gutter 

 to carry off some of the water. Immense flocks of gulls 

 had come in and were sitting out on the bog at the back. 



I wrote a note explaining to Powys our movements. 

 This I put in the chapel in a most conspicuous place. 



' We are moving up about , twenty-eight versts,' I said. 

 ' We shall be in full view of the sea. I shall send a team 

 down here every other day. The Saxon cannot get in, 

 but either boat can enter well. Sound carefully. Keep 

 the two posts you will see on the land in line for three 

 hundred yards. Then five hundred yards N.NW. by 

 compass (be careful here of a shoal and a sunken bead- 

 land). Then, bearing due west, you can reach right in 

 to the post one hundred yards below the southernmost 



