i 9 02] 'TIME TO GET UP!' 357 



order. The acknowledged humourists were in the minority, and 

 even they were reduced to the feeblest witticisms : the striking 

 thing was their capacity for finding amusement, not only in 

 the dull and prosaic, but in the physically miserable. There 

 are few people, I take it, who will not appreciate the saving 

 qualities of this sense of humour, or who have not at some 

 time experienced the advantage of meeting misfortune with a 

 smile ; there are few, therefore, who will not realise that one 

 would have to search far for a better sledge-companion than 

 the British bluejacket. 



If refreshing sleep comes at all on a spring sledge journey 

 it will be in the early morning hours, when the sleeping-bag 

 has thawed down on its occupants, and they, though damp, 

 can get better protection from its folds ; it is now, therefore, 

 that we doze for brief intervals and wake in fitful starts. The 

 leader, who alone possesses a watch, is conscious of his 

 responsibility for rousing the party, and wonders vaguely in his 

 waking moments what the time may be. To look at his watch 

 is a thing only to be done when all other evidence as to the 

 passage of time has been duly considered, for it means that 

 his present attitude has to be disturbed ; he must struggle with 

 his garments to produce the watch, and, worse still, he must 

 slightly open the sleeping-bag so that the grey outer light may 

 fall on its face. Therefore before he moves he recalls the 

 incidents of the night and sums up in imagination the intervals 

 of time which have elapsed between them ; he arrives at the 

 conclusion that another half-hour may well pass before he 

 disturbs himself. 



Then the deed has to be done, and he shuffles the watch- 

 face up to the light. As he peers into it his breath freezes on 

 the face, and he has to rub again before he can mark the 

 position of the hands, but finally they show that there is still 

 a quarter of an hour to the time of rising. He tucks away his 

 timekeeper and lies wakefully counting the minutes. When 

 he thinks the fifteen have elapsed he shouts, 'Time to get 

 up ! ' It is evident the others have been waiting for the signal. 

 There is no lagging ; even the morning hours have not made 



