THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



one's legs whenever we were standing about outside, 

 so when in the dark we felt a dog about our knees, 

 we knew it was Ambrose. Ambrose had a brother 

 and sister, but they were nameless, shining only in the 

 reflected glory of the great Ambrose, being known as 

 "Ambrose's brother" or "Ambrose's sister." Another 

 white dog was called Sissy, and this particular animal 

 affected the company of Priestley during his ice-digging 

 expeditions. Sissy would lie on the ice alongside the 

 hole that was being dug and was generally rewarded 

 by getting a biscuit when the scientist did not return 

 to the hut for lunch, taking it in the open instead. 

 Another popular puppy, also a female, was called 

 Mercury, because of its rapidity of movement. 



All the pups were white or would have been white 

 if some of them had not elected to sleep in the dust- 

 bin where the warm ashes were thrown at night time; 

 indeed, the resting-places these little creatures found 

 were varied and remarkable. In cold weather they 

 always gravitated to the light and heat of the stables, 

 but if the temperature was not much below zero, they 

 slept outside, three or four bundled together inside a 

 cork bale, another squeezed into an empty tin, another 

 in the dust-bin, and so on. Most of them learnt by sad 

 experience the truth of the ancient words: 



Such are the perils that environ 



The man who meddles with cold iron, 



for sometimes an agonising wail would proceed from 

 a puppy and the poor little beast would be found 

 with its tongue frozen fast to a tin in which it had 

 been searching for some succulent remains. I have 

 mentioned the puppies' usefulness in keeping watch 

 on the ponies. They did the same service as regards 



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