THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



ship about a mile to the eastward of our former position. 

 The Professor reported that they had been unable to 

 land on the island, as about fifty yards of water inter- 

 vened between the ice and the bare land. They found 

 a sea urchin on the ice, and Murray at once claimed it for 

 his collection. They had learned the first lesson of the 

 Antarctic, which is, that distances are very deceptive, and 

 that land is always much more distant than it appears to 

 be. 



This evening we kept a lookout for the return of the 

 sledge travellers, but there was no sign of them by bed- 

 time. I knew that Adams would be sure to return unless 

 Ms party had found much difficulty in effecting an 

 entrance into the hut. At half -past one in the morning 

 Harboard came down and reported that he could see the 

 party coming along in the distance. Of course at this 

 time we had perpetual daylight and there was practically 

 no difference between day and night. I had some cocoa 

 and sardines prepared for them, for I knew from ex- 

 perience how comforting is this fare to a way-worn 

 sledger. Adams, on his arrival, reported that they had 

 had a very heavy march on the way to the hut, and had 

 not reached it till a quarter to twelve at night, having 

 been going since 10 a.m. The surface for the last two 

 miles had been smooth ice, clear of snow, and a large 

 pool of open water lay off the end of Hut Point. The 

 bay in which the Discovery had been frozen in was covered 

 with clear blue ice, showing that in the previous season 

 the sea-ice had not broken out. They were so tired that 

 they turned into their sleeping-bags inside the hut 

 directly they made an entrance which was easily done 

 through one of the lee windows. They found the hut 

 practically clear of snow, and the structure quite intact. 

 There was a small amount of ice inside on the walls, 

 evidently the result of a summer thaw, but even after 



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