CHAPTER VIH. 
RETURN OF THE “SOUTHERN CROSS. 
We were all asleep in the hut at Camp Ridley 
except Colbein Ellefsen. The Finn Savio and 
myself slept heavily after twenty-four hours hard 
pulling in the kayaks. Ellefsen had just gone out 
of the hut to pull in a bag of coal when he saw a 
strange man walking on the peninsula towards him. 
The effect upon him, as he afterwards related it to 
me, was that he wondered whether he was asleep or 
awake ; suddenly to see a new being, a man not one 
of us nine—was it a large penguin, a larger species 
than the Emperor? However, he soon realised that 
it was Captain Jensen, who came along with the mail- 
bag on his back. Hurriedly, and in few words, he 
ascertained the conditions at the camp, whereupon he 
quietly opened the door, banged the bag down upon 
the table, and said “ Post!” When we looked out of 
our pigeon-holes we saw who it was. He had got old 
while he had been away. His responsible position had 
told upon him. It was a great moment as we again 
shook hands. Quickly the mail-bag was opened 
and emptied, and the members looked out for quiet 
corners where they, undisturbed, could satisfy their 
hunger for news from relatives at home, and from 
the great world which had been shut off from us for 
