eal of time. At the screen, he would spend a lively
few minutes wrestling in order to hold his ground, forcing the door back
against the pressure of wind, endeavouring to make the light shine on
the instruments, and, finally, clearing them of snow and reading them.
For illumination a hurricane lantern wrapped in a calico wind-shield was
first used, to be displaced later by an electrical signalling-lamp and,
while the batteries lasted, by a light permanently fixed by Hannam in
the screen itself. To assist in finding the manhole on his return, the
night-watchman was in the habit of leaving a light burning in the outer
veranda.

I remember waking up early one morning to find the Hut unusually cold.
On rising, I discovered Hurley also awake, busy lighting the fire which
had died out. There was no sign of Correll, the night-watchman, and we
found that the last entry in the log-book had been made several hours
previously. Hurley dressed in full burberrys and went out to make a
search, in which he was soon successful.

It appeared that Correll, running short of coal during the early
morning hours, had gone out to procure some from the stack. While he was
returning to the entrance, the wind rolled him over a few times, causing
him to lose his bearings. It was blowing a hurricane, the temperature
was -70 F., and the drift-snow was so thick as to be wall-like in
opacity. He abandoned his load of coal, and, after searching about
fruitlessly for some time in the darkness, he decided to wait for dawn.
Hurley found him about twenty yards from the back of the Hut.

The suppression of outdoor occupations reacted in an outburst of indoor
work. The smaller room had been well fitted up as a workshop, and all
kinds of schemes were in progress for adapting our sledging-gear and
instruments to the severe conditions. Correll worked long hours to keep
up with the demands made upon him. Nobody was idle during the day,
for, when there was nothing else to be done, there always remained the
manufacture and alteration of garments and crampons.

As soon as the wind abated to a reasonable velocity, there was a rush to
the outside jobs. Lulls would come unexpectedly, activity inside ceased,
and the Hut, as seen by a spectator, resembled an ants' nest upon which
a strange foot had trodden: eighteen men swarming through the manhole in
rapid succession, hurrying hither and thither.

The neighbouring sea still remained free from an ice-crust. This, of