LANDING THE PONIES AND DOGS 



and tied them up to rocks, all except Possum, who was 

 still engaged with her little puppies. Then followed 

 the foundation pieces of the hut, for it was desirable 

 that we should be safely housed before the ship went 

 north. Meanwhile, the carpenter was busily engaged 

 in unbolting the framework of the pony-stalls, and the 

 animals became greatly excited, causing us a lot of 

 trouble. We worked till 3 a.m., landing pony fodder and 

 general stores, and then knocked off and had some cocoa 

 and a rest, intending to turn to at 6 a.m. 



We had hardly started work again when a strong 

 breeze sprung up with drifting snow. The ship began 

 to bump heavily against the ice- foot and twice dragged 

 her anchors out, so, as there seemed no possibility of 

 getting ahead with the landing of the stores under these 

 conditions, we steamed out and tied up at the main ice- 

 face, about six miles to the south, close to where we 

 had lain for the past few days. It blew fairly hard 

 all day and right through the evening, but the wind went 

 down on the afternoon of the 5th, and we returned to 

 the bay that evening. The poor dogs had been tied up 

 all this time without any shelter or food, so directly we 

 made fast, Joyce was off ashore with a steaming hot 

 feed for them. Scamp came running down to meet 

 him, and Queenie had got loose and played havoc 

 amongst the penguins. They had killed over a 

 hundred, and the skuas were massed in great numbers, 

 taking full advantage of this disaster. We never saw 

 Queenie again. She must have fallen over a cliff into 

 the sea. 



We lost no time in getting the ponies ashore. This 

 was by no means an easy task, for some of the animals 

 were very restive, and it required care to avoid accident 

 to themselves or to us. Some time before we had 



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