THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



did not eat up their food well at lunch or dinner. The 

 * temperature this evening is plus 9° Fahr., and the 

 ponies feel chilly. Truly this work is one demanding 

 the greatest exercise of patience, for it is more than 

 trying to have to sit here and watch the time going by, 

 knowing that each day lessens our stock of food. The 

 supporting party got under way about 9.30 a.m., and 

 we could see them dwindling to a speck in the north. 

 They will, no doubt, be at Hut Point in a couple of days. 

 We are now at last quite on our own resources, and as 

 regards comfort in the tents are very well off, for with 

 only two men in each tent, there is ample room. Adams 

 is sharing one with me, whilst Marshall and Wild have 

 the other. Wild is cook this week, so they keep the 

 cooker and the Primus lamp in their tent, and we go 

 across to meals, after first feeding the ponies. Next 

 week Adams will be cook, so the cooking will be done 

 in the tent I am in. We will also shift about so that 

 we will take turns with each other as tent-mates. On 

 the days on which we are held up by weather we read, 

 and I can only trust that these days may not be many. 

 I am just finishing reading The Taming of the Shrew. 

 I have Shakespeare's Comedies, Marshall has Borrow's 

 " The Bible in Spain," Adams has Arthur Young's 

 " Travels in France," and Wild has " Sketches by Boz." 

 When we have finished we will change round. Our 

 allowance of tobacco is very limited, and on days like 

 these it disappears rapidly, for our anxious minds are 

 relieved somewhat by a smoke. In order to economise 

 my cigarettes, which are my luxury, I whittled out a 

 holder from a bit of bamboo to-day, and so get a longer 

 smoke, and also avoid the paper sticking to my lips, which 

 have begun to crack already from the hot metal pot and 

 the cold air. 



268 



