180 THE VOYAGE OF 'THE 'DISCOVERY' [Mak. 



a cry of warning, and those behind him, hearing it, dug their 

 heels instinctively into the slippery surface, and with one 

 exception all succeeded in stopping. What followed was over 

 in an instant. Before his horror-stricken companions had time 

 to think, poor Vince, unable to check himself with his soft fur 

 boots, had shot from amongst them, flashed past the leader, 

 and disappeared. It was difficult to discover from the men's 

 account exactly what happened after this catastrophe. In 

 some sort of hazy way they seem to have realised that they 

 must make upwards and away from the danger, and they 

 started to ascend the slope. 



All spoke of that ascent with horror, and wondered how it 

 was ever accomplished. They could only hold themselves by 

 the soles of their boots, and to fall or even to slip to their 

 knees meant inevitably to slide backwards towards the certain 

 fate below. Literally their lives depended on each foothold, 

 and they possessed no implement to make these more secure. 

 Of the party, Wild alone had previously armed the soles of his 

 boots with a few light nails ; this gave him a great advantage, 

 and, to his great credit, he used it to go from one to another of 

 his companions with a helping hand. As they crept laboriously 

 upwards, the slope became steeper and more icy, but now, 

 here and there, they found a stone which had rolled from the 

 heights above and become firmly frozen in the icy surface. 

 These afforded some anchorage and rest to the weary climbers. 

 The storm still whirled the snow about them with unabated 

 fury, but they pushed upwards in its teeth from stone to stone, 

 until to their joy the stones grew thicker, and close above them 

 they saw the black outline of the rocky summit. A final 

 scramble, and they were once more on safe ground, with the 

 nightmare of the climb behind them. 



But their troubles were far from over, as they were still 

 ignorant of the position of the ship. Wild again took the lead ; 

 the sea behind them must be north of the ship, he argued, and 

 therefore they must keep the wind on their left front, and if 

 possible keep always to the rocks. It is difficult in such cir- 

 cumstances to gauge time, and none of the party knew how 



