HOMEWARD BOUND 



and specimens down, while another party went out to 

 the seal rookery to see if they could find a peculiar seal 

 that we had noticed on our way to the hut on the 

 previous night. The seal was either a new species 

 or the female of the Ross Seal. It was a small animal, 

 about four feet six inches long, with a broad white 

 band from its throat right down to its tail on the under- 

 side. If we had been equipped with knives on the 

 previous night we would have despatched it, but we had 

 no knives and were, moreover, very tired, and we 

 therefore left it. The search for the seal proved fruitless, 

 and as the sea was freezing over behind us I ordered 

 all the men on board directly the stuff from the depot 

 had been got on to the deck, and the Nimrod once more 

 steamed north. The breeze soon began to freshen, 

 and it was blowing hard from the south when we passed 

 the winter quarters at Cape Royds. We all turned out 

 to give three cheers and to take a last look at the place 

 where we had spent so many happy days. The hut was 

 not exactly a palatial residence and during our period 

 of residence in it we had suffered many discomforts, 

 not to say hardships, but, on the other hand, it had been 

 our home for a year that would always live in our 

 memories. We had been a very happy little party 

 within its walls, and often when we were far away from 

 even its measure of civilisation, it had been the Mecca 

 of all our hopes and dreams. We watched the little 

 hut fade away in the distance with feelings almost 

 of sadness, and there were few men aboard who did 

 not cherish a hope that some day they would once 

 more live strenuous days under the shadow of mighty 

 Erebus. 



I left at the winter quarters on Cape Royds a supply 

 of stores sufficient to last fifteen men for one year. 

 The vicissitudes of fife in the Antarctic are such that 



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