ESCAPE FROM THE ICE 
body answered. The crack had widened to about four feet, 
and as I threw myself down at the edge, I saw a whitish object 
floating in the water. It was a sleeping-bag with a man inside. 
I was able to grasp it, and with a heave lifted man and bag 
on to the floe. A few seconds later the ice-edges came together 
again with tremendous force. Fortimately, there had been but 
one man in the water, or the incident might have been a tragedy. 
The rescued bag contained Holness, who was wet down to the 
waist but otherwise unscathed , The crack was now opening again. 
The James Caird and my tent were on one side of the opening 
and the remaining two boats and the rest of the camp on the 
other side. With two or three men to help me I struck my tent ; 
then all hands manned the painter and rushed the James Caird 
across the opening crack. We held to the rope while, one by 
one, the men left on our side of the floe jumped the channel 
or scrambled over by means of the boat. Finally I was left 
alone. The night had swallowed all the others and the rapid 
movement of the ice forced me to let go the painter. For a 
moment I felt that my piece of rocking floe was the loneliest 
place in the world. Peering into the darkness, I could just 
see the dark figures on the other floe. I hailed Wild, ordering 
him to launch the Stancomh Wills, but I need not have troubled. 
His quick brain had anticipated the order and already the boat 
was being manned and hauled to the ice-edge. Two or three 
minutes later she reached me. and I was ferried across to the 
camp. 
We were now on a piece of flat ice about 200 ft. long and 
100 ft. wide. There was no more sleep for any of us that 
night. The killers were blowing in the lanes around, and we 
waited for daylight and watched for signs of another crack in 
the ice. The hours passed with laggard feet as we stood huddled 
together or walked to and fro in the effort to keep some warmth 
in our bodies. We lit the blubber-stove at 3 a.m., and with 
pipes going and a cup of hot milk for each man, we were able 
to discover some bright spots in our outlook. At any rate, 
we were on the move at last, and if dangers and difficulties 
loomed ahead we could meet and overcome them. No longer 
were we drifting helplessly at the mercy of wind and current. 
125 
