THE WINTER JOURNEY 276 
by degrees. The blubber stove was working, and we had 
fuel for it: we had also found a way down to the penguins 
and had three complete, though frozen eggs: the two 
which had been in my mitts smashed when I fell about 
because I could not wear spectacles. Also the twilight 
given by the sun below the horizon at noon was getting 
longer. 
But already we had been out twice as long in winter 
as the longest previous journeys in spring. ‘The men who 
made those journeys had daylight where we had dark- 
ness, they had never had such low temperatures, generally 
nothing approaching them, and they had seldom worked 
in such difficult country. The nearest approach to healthy 
sleep we had had for nearly a month was when during 
blizzards the temperature allowed the warmth of our bodies 
to thaw some of the ice in our clothing and sleeping-bags 
into water. The wear and tear on our minds was very 
great. We were certainly weaker. We had a little more 
than a tin of oil to get back on, and we knew the con- 
ditions we had to face on that journey across the Barrier : 
even with fresh men and fresh gear it had been almost un- 
endurable. 
And so we spent half an hour or more getting into our 
bags. Cirrus cloud was moving across the face of the 
stars from the north, it looked rather hazy and thick to 
the south, but it is always difficult to judge weather in the 
dark. There was little wind and the temperature was in 
the minus twenties. We felt no particular uneasiness. Our 
tent was well dug in, and was also held down by rocks and 
the heavy tank off the sledge which were placed on the 
skirting as additional security. We felt that no power 
on earth could move the thick walls of our igloo, nor drag 
the canvas roof from the middle of the embankment into 
which it was packed and lashed. 
“Things must improve,” said Bill. 
I do not know what time it was when I woke up. It was 
calm, with that absolute silence which can be so soothing 
or so terrible as circumstances dictate. Then there came 
a sob of wind, and all was still again. Ten minutes and it 
