THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



Point, and I decided to follow another route seven miles 

 round by the other side of Castle Rock. We clambered 

 over crevasses and snow slopes, and after what seemed 

 an almost interminable struggle reached Castle Rock, 

 from whence I could see that there was open water all 

 round the north. It was indeed a different home-coming 

 from what we had expected. Out on the Barrier and 

 up on the plateau our thoughts had often turned to 

 the day when we would get back to the comfort and 

 plenty of the winter-quarters, but we had never imagined 

 righting our way to the back-door, so to speak, in such 

 a cheerless fashion. We reached the top of Ski Slope 

 at 7.45 p.m., and from there we could see the hut and 

 the bay. There was no sign of the ship, and no smoke 

 or other evidence of life at the hut. We hurried on to 

 the hut, our minds busy with gloomy possibilities, and 

 found not a man there. There was a letter stating that 

 the Northern Party had reached the Magnetic Pole, and 

 that all the parties had been picked up except ours. The 

 letter added that the ship would be sheltering under 

 Glacier Tongue until February 26. It was now February 

 28, and it was with* very keen anxiety in our minds that we 

 proceeded to search for food. If the ship was gone, our 

 plight, and that of the two men left out on the Barrier, 

 was a very serious one. 



We improvised a cooking vessel, found oil and a 

 Primus lamp, and had a good feed of biscuit, onions 

 and plum pudding, which were amongst the stores left 

 at the hut. We were utterly weary, but we had no 

 sleeping-gear, our bags having been left with the sledge, 

 and the temperature was very low. We found a piece 

 of roofing felt, which we wrapped round us, and then 

 we sat up all night, the darkness being relieved only 

 when we occasionally lighted the lamp in order to 

 secure a little warmth. We tried to burn the mag- 



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