he
made for his hole in the cliff.

She remembered the porpoises and fell to thinking of what would have
happened had she and Raft started on their expedition yesterday or the
day before. That wind, which sent rocks flying on to the beach, would
have blown them away.

She said this next morning as they stood watching the sea. The sea was
worth watching. The due-south wind had stirred the heart of the ocean
from west of Enderby land, and, like a trumpeter, was leading a vast
flood that split on Heard Island only to re-form and burst on the
southern shores of Kerguelen.

They could hear the vague far-off roar of it all those leagues away
beyond the mountains, mixed with the cry of the wind still blowing a
full gale, and beyond the shelter of the land they could see the islands
getting it, bombarded by the waves and up to their shoulders in
sea-smoke and foam.

Then as they stood, suddenly and like a thing shot dead, the wind
ceased, and in the silence the roar of the beaches far and near arose
like a fume of sound. Then, as suddenly, the wind came shouting out of
the west, piling up a cross sea that leapt like the water in a boiling
pot.

"I'm thinking when this blow is over we may have a spell of fine
weather," said Raft, "and it will be just as well for us to be making
our plans and getting things ready so's we won't be behind hand when the
fine spell comes."

"I think so too," said she, "we will have to take food with us--how
much?"

"Enough for a month," said he, "who knows, we may have to come back, and
there's not much to be had elsewhere." Then he fell into thought for a
moment, "maybe stuff for a fortnight will be enough for there's birds
and rabbits to be got, and gulls' eggs. Them old penguins let you screw
their necks as if it come natural to them, we don't want to take too big
a load."

Then they found themselves at a loss, it was quite easy to arrange to
take a fortnight's food, but how much did that mean?

They determined to use two blankets for sacks and then made a rough
calculation, based on imagination, and collected together tins of meat
and vegetables and the remaining biscuits, the result was a burden that
two people might have carried but not very far.

"We've overshot it," said Raft.

"We'll never be able to carry all that," said the girl, "or if we did we
would have to go so slowly that the journey would be much longer--it
cuts both ways."

They reduced the load by nearly a half.