THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



and hardly were they secured when, with a sharp crack, 

 the very place where they had been lying fell with a 

 crash into the sea. Had we lost these cases the result 

 would have been very serious, for a great part of our 

 scientific work could not have been carried out, and 

 if the fodder had been lost, it would have meant the loss 

 of the ponies also. The breaking of this part of the ice 

 made us redouble our efforts to save the rest of the stores, 

 for we could not tell when the next piece of ice might 

 break off, though no crack was yet visible. The breaking 

 up of the bay ice that morning turned out to be after all 

 for the best, for I would not otherwise have gone on so 

 early with this work. I ran up the hill to the top of 

 Flagstaff Point, as we called the cliff at the southern 

 extremity of Cape Royds, to call the ship in, in order 

 to obtain additional help from the crew; she had been 

 dodging about outside of the point since one o'clock, but 

 she was beyond hailing distance, and it was not till about 

 seven o'clock that I saw her coming close in again. I at 

 once hailed England and told him to send every available 

 man ashore immediately. In a few minutes a boat came 

 off with half a dozen men, and I sent a message back by 

 the officer in charge for more members of the ship's crew 

 to be landed at once, and only enough men left on board 

 to steer the ship and work the engines. I had previously 

 knocked off the party working on the hut, and with 

 the extra assistance we " smacked things about " in a 

 lively fashion. The ice kept breaking off in chunks, 

 but we had the satisfaction of seeing every single package 

 safe on the rocks by midnight. 



Our party then proceeded to sledge the heavier cases 

 and the tins of oil at the foot of Derrick Point round the 

 narrow causeway of ice between the perpendicular rocks 

 and the sea to the depot at Back Door Bay. I was 

 astonished and delighted on arriving at the derrick to 



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