SOUTH 
ice became more pronomiced. Occasionally a neighbouring 
floe would hammer against the ice on which we were camped, 
and the lesson of these blows was plain to read. We must get 
sohd ground under our feet quickly. When the vibration ceased 
after a heavy surge, my thoughts flew round to the problem 
ahead. If the party had not numbered more than six men 
a solution would not have been so hard to find ; but obviously 
the transportation of the whole party to a place of safety, 
with the limited means at our disposal, was going to be a matter 
of extreme difficulty. There were twenty-eight men on our 
floating cake of ice, which was steadily dwindling under the 
influence of wind, weather, charging floes, and heavy swell. 
I confess that I felt the burden of responsibility sit heavily 
on my shoulders ; but, on the other hand, I was stimulated 
and cheered by the attitude of the men. Loneliness is the 
penalty of leadership, but the man who has to make the decisions 
is assisted greatly if he feels that there is no uncertainty in 
the minds of those who follow him, and that his orders will 
be carried out confidently and in expectation of success. 
The sun was shining in the blue sky on the following morning 
(April 8). Clarence Island showed clearly on the horizon, and 
Elephant Island could also be distinguished. The single snow- 
clad peak of Clarence Island stood up as a beacon of safety, 
though the most optimistic imagmation could not make an 
easy path of the ice and ocean that separated us from that 
giant, white and austere. The pack was much looser this 
morning, and the long rolling swell from the north-east is more 
pronounced than it was yesterday. The floes rise and fall with 
the surge of the sea. We evidently are drifting with the surface 
current, for all the heavier masses of floe, bergs, and hummocks 
are being left behind. There has been some discussion in the 
camp as to the advisability of making one of the bergs our 
home for the time being and drifting with it to the west. The 
idea is not sound. I cannot be sure that the berg would drift 
in the right direction. If it did move west and carried us 
into the open water, what would be our fate when we tried to 
launch the boats down the steep sides of the berg in the sea- 
swell after the surrounding floes had left us ? One must reckon, 
120 
