REJOICING IN WINTER QUARTERS 



that last half-mile seemed one of the hardest they had 

 covered. It was fortunate that the weather did not 

 become worse. 



Meanwhile, at winter quarters, we had been very 

 busy opening cases and getting things ship-shape out- 

 side, with the result that the cubicles of the absentees 

 were more or less filled with a general accumulation 

 of stores. When Armytage reported that he saw the 

 party on their way down the day before they arrived 

 at the hut, we decided to make the cubicles tidy for 

 the travellers. We had just begun on the Professor's 

 cubicle when, about 11 a.m., I left the hut for a moment 

 and was astonished to see within thirty yards of me, 

 coming over the brow of the ridge by the hut, six slowly 

 moving figures. I ran towards them shouting : " Did 

 you get to the top?" There was no answer, and I 

 asked again. Adams pointed with his hand upwards, 

 but this did not satisfy me, so I repeated my question. 

 Then Adams said: "Yes," and I ran back to the hut 

 and shouted to the others, who all came streaming 

 out to cheer the successful venturers. We shook hands 

 all round and opened some champagne, which tasted 

 like nectar to the way-worn people. Marshall pre- 

 scribed a dose to us stay-at-home ones, so that we 

 might be able to listen quietly to the tale the party had 

 to tell. 



Except to Joyce, Wild and myself, who had seen 

 similar things on the former expedition, the eating 

 and drinking capacity of the returned party was a 

 matter of astonishment. In a few minutes Roberts 

 had produced a great saucepan of Quaker oats and 

 milk, the contents of which disappeared in a moment, 

 to be followed by the greater part of a fresh-cut ham 

 and home-made bread, with New Zealand fresh butter. 

 The six had evidently found on the slopes of Erebus six 



189 



