THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



watchman was a two-hourly inspection of the stables, 

 and if he heard any suspicious noises between inspection 

 time, he had to go out and investigate the cause. After a 

 couple of months these precautions became unnecessary, 

 for a little army of pups used to sleep in the stables 

 during the cold weather, and if by any means a pony got 

 adrift, they at once surrounded him, barking furiously, 

 and the noise conveyed to the watchman that the outside 

 watchers had observed something wrong. I remember 

 one night that Grisi got free and dashed out of the stables, 

 followed by the whole party of pups, who rounded him 

 up on the Green Park, and after a struggle Mackay 

 secured the truant and brought him back, the dogs follow- 

 ing with an air of pride as though conscious of having 

 done their duty. 



We had been able to obtain only nine dogs, five 

 bitches and four dogs, but so prolific were they that 

 before mid-winter we had a young family of nine pups, 

 five of these being born on the Nimrod. There were 

 many more births, but most of the puppies came to an 

 untimely end, there being a marked difference between 

 the mothers as regards maternal instincts. Gwendo- 

 line, known as the " mad bitch," took no care at all 

 of her pups, whilst Daisy not only mothered her own 

 but also a surviving puppy belonging to Gwen, which 

 was taken from her when the culpable carelessness 

 she had exhibited in the rearing of her offspring had 

 resulted in the death of the remainder. The younger 

 pups born at winter quarters did not attain the same 

 size when grown up as did Possum's pups, born on the 

 Nimrod. This may be due either to the very cold 

 world they were born into or to the fact that their 

 mothers were much smaller than Possum. The old dogs 

 that we brought were kept tied up except when out 



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