THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



November 8. — Drawn blank again! In our bags 

 all day, while outside the snow is drifting hard and 

 blowing freshly at times. The temperature was plus 

 8° Fahr. at noon. The wind has not been really strong; 

 if it had been I believe that this weather would have 

 been over sooner. It is a sore trial to one's hopes 

 and patience to lie and watch the drift on the tent- 

 side, and to know that our valuable pony food is going, 

 and this without benefiting the animals themselves. 

 Indeed, Socks and Grisi have not been eating well, 

 and the hard maize does not agree with them. At 

 lunch we had only a couple of biscuits and some choco- 

 late, and used our oil to boil some Maujee ration for the 

 horses, so that they had a hot hoosh. They all ate it 

 readily, which is a comfort. This standing for four 

 days in drift with 24° of frost is not good for them, 

 and we are anxiously looking for finer weather. To- 

 night it is clearer, and w r e could see the horizon and 

 some of the crevasses. We seem to be in a regular 

 nest of them. The occupants of the other tent have 

 discovered that it is pitched on the edge of a previously 

 unseen one. We had a hot hoosh to-night, consisting 

 of pemmican, with emergency ration and the cocoa. 

 This warmed us up, for to lie from breakfast time at 

 6 a.m. for twelve or thirteen hours without hot food 

 in this temperature is chilly work. If only we could 

 get under way and put some good marches in, we would 

 feel more happy. It is 750 miles as the crow flies from 

 our winter quarters to the Pole, and we have done only 

 fifty-one miles as yet. But still the worst will turn 

 to the best, I doubt not. That a polar explorer needs 

 a large stock of patience in his equipment there is no 

 denying. The sun is showing thin and pale through the 

 drift this evening, and the wind is more gusty, so we 



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