THE BOAT JOURNEY 
our command, and pleasant cabins for our ease. Now we clung 
to a battered little boat, " along, alone, all, all alone, alone on 
a wide, wide sea." So low in the water were we that each 
succeeding swell cut ofi our view of the sky-line. We were a 
tiny speck in the vast vista of the sea— the ocean that is open 
to all and merciful to none, that threatens even when it seems 
to yield, and that is pitiless always to weakness. For a moment 
the consciousness of the forces arrayed against us would be 
almost overwhelming. Then hope and confidence would rise 
again as our boat rose to a wave and tossed aside the crest in 
a sparkling shower like the play of prismatic colours at the 
foot of a waterfall. My double-barrelled gmi. and some 'car- 
tridges had been stowed aboard the boat as an emergency 
precaution against a shortage of food, but we were not disposed 
to destroy our little neighbours, the Cape pigeons, even for the 
sake of fresh meat. We might have shot an albatross, but 
the wandering king of the ocean aroused in us something of the 
feehng that inspired, too late, the Ancient Mariner. So the gun 
remained among the stores and sleeping-bags in the narrow 
quarters beneath our leaking deck, and the birds followed us 
unmolested. 
The eighth, ninth, and tenth days of the voyage had few 
features worthy of special note. The wind blew hard during 
those days, and the strain of navigating the boat was unceasing, 
but always we made some advance towards om* goal. No 
bergs showed on our horizon, and we knew that we were clear 
of the ice-fields. Each day brought its little round of troubles, 
but also compensation in the form of food and growing hope. 
We felt that we were going to succeed. The odds against us 
had been great, but we were winning through. We still sufi;ered 
severely from the cold, for, though the temperature was rising, 
our vitality was declining owing to shortage of food, exposure, 
and the necessity of maintaining our cramped positions day 
and night. I found that it was now absolutely necessary to 
prepare hot milk for all hands during the night, in order to 
sustain life till dawn. This meant lighting the Primus lamp 
in the darkness and involved an increased drain on our small 
store of matches. It was the rule that one match must serve 
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