han crawl on my hands and knees about the hut. I had to get blubber
from the door to feed the fire, and chop up seal-meat to eat, to cook,
and to tend the dogs, some of whom were loose, while most of them were
tied in the verandah, or between the hut door and Vince's Cross. The hut
was bitterly cold with only one man in it: had there not been some
morphia among the stores brought down from Cape Evans I do not know what
I should have done.

The dogs realized that they could take liberties which they would not
have dared to do in different circumstances. They whined and growled, and
squabbled amongst themselves all the time, day and night. Seven or eight
times one day I crawled across the floor to try and lay my hands upon one
dog who was the ringleader. I was sure it was Dyk, but never detected him
in the act, and though I thrashed him with difficulty as a speculation,
the result was not encouraging. I would willingly have killed the lot of
them just then, I am ashamed to say. I lay in my sleeping-bag with the
floor of the hut falling from me, or its walls disappearing in the
distance and coming back: and roused myself at intervals to feed blubber
to the stove. I felt as though I had been delivered out of hell when the
relief party arrived on the night of April 14. I had been alone four
days, and I think a few more days would have sent me off my head. Not the
least welcome of the things they had brought me were my letters, copies
of the Weekly Times, a pair of felt shoes and a comb!

Atkinson's plan was to start on April 7 over the old sea-ice which lay to
the south and south-west of us: he was to take with him Wright, Keohane
and Williamson, and they wanted to reach Butter Point, and thence to
sledge up the western coast. If the sea-ice was in, and Campbell was
sledging down upon it, they hoped to meet him and might be of the
greatest assistance to him. Even if they did not meet him they could mark
more obviously certain depots, of which he had no knowledge, left by our
own geological parties on the route he must follow. As I have already
mentioned, these were on Cape Roberts, off Granite Harbour, and on Cape
Bernacchi, north of New Harbour: there was also a depot at Butter Point,
but Campbell already knew of this. They could also leave instructions to
this effect at points where he would be likely to see them. There was no
question that there was grave risk in this journey. Not only was the
winter approaching, and the