CHAPTER XIV 
PREPARATIONS : THE SPRING JOURNEY 
Friday , September I. — A very windy night, dropping 
to gusts in morning, preceding beautifully calm, bright 
day. If September holds as good as August we shall not 
have cause of complaint. Mearcs and Dcmctri started 
for Hut Point just before noon. The dogs were in fine 
form. Dcmctri's team came over the hummocky tide 
crack at full gallop, depositing the driver on the snow. 
Luckily some of us were standing on the floe. I made 
a dash at the bow of the sledge as it dashed past and 
happily landed on top ; Atkinson grasped at the same 
object, but fell, and was dragged merrily over the ice. 
The weight reduced the pace, and others soon came up 
and stopped the team. Demetri was very crestfallen. 
He is extremely active and it's the first time he's been 
unseated. 
There is no real reason for Mearcs' departure yet 
awhile, but he chose to go and probably hopes to train 
the animals better when he has them by themselves. 
As things are, this seems like throwing out the advance 
guard for the summer campaign. 
I have been working very hard at sledging figures with 
