ELEPHANT ISLAND 
into suitable lengths ; then he cut the legs of a pair of sea- 
boots into narrow strips, and using these in much the same 
way that the leather binding is put round the edge of uphol- 
stered chairs, he nailed the tent-cloth all round the insides of 
the outer gvmwales of the two boats in such a way that it hung 
down like a valance to the ground, where it was secured with 
spars and oars. A couple of overlapping blankets made the 
door, superseded later by a sack-mouth door cut from one of 
the tents. This consisted of a sort of tube of canvas sewn on 
to the tent-cloth, through which the men crawled in or out, 
tjdng it up as one would the mouth of a sack as soon as the 
man had passed through. It is certainly the most convenient 
and efficient door for these conditions that has ever been 
invented. 
" Whilst the side walls of the hut were being fixed, others 
proceeded to fill the interstices between the stones of the end 
walls with snow. As this was very powdery and would not 
bind well, we eventually had to supplement it with the only 
spare blanket and an overcoat. All this work was very hard 
on our frost-bitten fingers, and materials were very limited. 
" At last all was completed and we were invited to bring 
in our sodden bags, which had been lying out in the drizzling 
rain for several hours ; for the tents and boats that had pre- 
viously sheltered them had all been requisitioned to form our 
new residence. 
" We took our places under Wild's direction. There was 
no squabbUng for best places, but it was noticeable that there 
was something in the nature of a rush for the billets up on the 
thwarts of the boats. 
" Rickenson, who was still very weak and ill, but very 
cheery, obtained a place in the boat directly above the stove, 
and the sailors having lived under the Stancomb Wills for a 
few days while she was upside down on the beach, tacitly 
claimed it as their own, and flocked up on to its thwarts as one 
man. There was one ' upstair ' billet left in this boat, which 
Wild ofiered to Hussey and Lees simultaneously, saying that 
the first man that got his bag up could have the billet. Whilst 
Lees was calculating the pros and cons Hussey got his bag, 
p 225 
