AN UNPLEASANT SITUATION 



less wind and less drift, and that I was able for the first 

 time to see where I was with regard to surrounding 

 objects. I was unable, however, to get out of the bag 

 without being blown further down the slippery glacier, 

 and I could see that it would be impossible to crawl up 

 the slopes with the cumbrous bag. If I lost the bag I 

 might as well have let myself slide." 



About two hours after this Marston ventured forth 

 from the tent in one of the remarkable intervals of 

 calm occasionally experienced in the course of an 

 Antarctic blizzard. On either side 'of the spot on which 

 the camp had been pitched he could see the drift flying 

 along with the full force of the wind, but he was able 

 to make his way down to Priestley before the blizzard 

 swept down on them again. They dragged the bag 

 up the glacier by kneeling on it and jerking it along, 

 and both got into the tent. " Four men in a three- 

 men tent is a big squeeze," continued Priestley, " but 

 five was fearful, and it was some time before I managed 

 to get even sitting room. The first thing to do was to 

 examine and attend frost-bitten feet, and the examina- 

 tion showed as big a crop as could be expected, for 

 Marston and I each had both feet frost-bitten. A course 

 of massage brought them round, and I got into Marston's 

 bag while he made tea. . . . After tea I got into my 

 own bag and lay down on top of Murray and Marston, 

 and by dint of much wriggling we managed to get fairly 

 settled, though our positions were so cramped that sleep 

 was impossible. 



" At about half -past four in the morning we cooked 

 some pemmican in the tent and had a proper breakfast, 

 as for the first time the wind had really begun to die 

 away. Owing to the cold, the long period of semi- 

 starvation in our cramped quarters, and the fact that 



Vol. n.-3 33 



