1902] AN INOPPORTUNE BLIZZARD 383 



heap enough snow on the skirting of our tent and that we 

 became so utterly unconscious of the change that was taking 

 place in the weather. At any rate, I remember nothing until 

 Thursday morning, when I woke up to find myself in the 

 open. At first, as I lifted the flap of my sleeping bag, I could 

 not think what had happened. I gazed forth on a white sheet 

 of drifting snow, with no sign of the tent or my companions. 

 For a moment I wondered what in the world it could mean, 

 but the lashing of the snow in my face very quickly awoke me 

 to full consciousness, and I sat up to find that in some extra- 

 ordinary way I had rolled out of the tent. A violent gale was 

 raging and the air was filled with thick, blinding snow. I 

 could only just make out the tent, though it was flapping 

 wildly across the foot of my bag ; it was evident that it still 

 stood upright, and that the sooner I was in its shelter the 

 better. I started to wriggle in, bag and all, and at length got 

 beneath it, and could see more clearly what had happened. 

 The bamboos were still secure and the skirting of the tent was 

 still held down on the weather side, but to leeward the snow 

 had been flung off it, and on this side the canvas was flapping 

 loosely, leaving an interval beneath through which I must have 

 rolled. 



' I do not think this state of things can have obtained for 

 long, as Barne and Shackleton had only just realised it, but of 

 course by this time the snow was whirling as, freely inside the 

 tent as without, our sleeping-bags were covered, and we our- 

 selves were powdered with it. The tent was straining so 

 madly at what remained of its securing that evidently some- 

 thing must be done at once to prevent its flying away 

 altogether. With freezing fingers we gripped the skirting and 

 gradually pulled it inwards, and, half sitting on it, half grasp- 

 ing it, endeavoured to hold it against the wild efforts of the 

 storm whilst we discussed ways and means. Discussion led us 

 nowhere ; to have attempted to secure the tent properly in 

 such weather would have been useless, even to venture outside 

 would be dangerous, whilst we felt that if we once let go it 

 might be good-bye to our tent. 



