STOCK OF COAL DIMINISHING 



the ship for two weeks in the hope of the ice breaking up, 

 and it did not do so, we would then be in a very serious 

 position, for it would take nearly a fortnight to land all 

 the stores and get the hut up, and this could only be done 

 after selecting new winter quarters somewhere in the 

 neighborhood, either on the west coast or on one of the 

 bare patches of rocks lying to the eastward of us. The 

 outlook to the west was not promising, for about five or 

 six miles to the west of where we were lying the ice 

 was heavily packed. To the eastward it seemed more 

 hopeful. 



I decided to He off the ice-foot for a few days at 

 least, and give Nature a chance to do what we could not 

 with the ship, that is, to break up the miles of ice inter- 

 vening between us and our goal. We seemed fated to 

 meet with obstacles in every attempt we made to carry 

 out our plans, but remembered in these somewhat anxious 

 times that obstacles are the common lot of Polar ex- 

 plorers, and that indeed the game would not be worth 

 playing if there were not difficulties. My chief anxiety 

 was due to the fact that each day's delay at the ice-foot 

 would mean a diminution of our scanty stock of coal, for 

 it was necessary to keep up steam that we might be ready 

 to move at a moment's notice in the event of the 

 ice packing down on us from the north, or the breaking 

 away of the floe to which we were fast. The latter cir- 

 cumstance indeed was a constant occurrence; either the 

 ice broke bodily away, or a slight breeze would catch the 

 ship and draw the anchor out of the floe. Then we had 

 to steam up and get a fresh grip. The plan of sledging 

 the stores across the distance intervening between us and 

 Hut Point I soon dismissed as impracticable, for even if 

 the ponies had been in perfect condition, and it had been 

 possible to use the motor-car, we could never have shifted 



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