o
find the sky densely overcast and a light fog in the air. During a rift
which opened for a few minutes there was a short glimpse of the rock on
Aurora Peak. Shredding half the penguin-meat, we boiled it up and found
the stew and broth excellent.

At 1.30 A.M. we started to struggle up the gully once more, wading along
in a most helpless fashion, with breathing spells every ten yards or
less. Snow began to fall in such volume that at last it was impossible
to keep our direction with any certainty. The only thing to do was to
throw up the tent as a shelter and wait. This we did till 4.30 A.M.; but
there must have been a cloud-burst, for the heavy flakes toppled on to
the tent like tropical rain. We got into sleeping-bags, and tried to be
patient and to forget that we were hungry.

Apparently, during our seven weeks' absence, the local precipitation had
been almost continual, and snow now lay over this region in stupendous
amount. Even when one sank three feet, it was not on to the firm
sastrugi over which we had travelled out of the valley on the outward
journey, for these lay still deeper. It was hoped that the "snowdump"
did not continue over the fifty miles to the Hut, but we argued that on
the windy plateau this could scarcely be possible.

It was evident that without any more food, through this bottomless,
yielding snow, we could never haul the sledge up to the depot, a rise of
one thousand two hundred feet in three miles. One of us must go up and
bring food back, and I decided to do so as soon as the weather cleared.

We found the wait for clearer weather long and trying with empty
stomachs. As the tobacco-supply still held out, McLean and I found great
solace in our pipes. All through the rest of the day and till 5 P.M. of
the next, January 10, there was not a rift in the opaque wall of flakes.
Then to our intense relief the snow stopped, the clouds rolled to
the north, and, in swift transformation--a cloudless sky with bright
sunshine! With the rest of the penguin-meat--a bare half-pound--we had
another thin broth. Somewhat fortified, I took the food-bag and shovel,
and left the tent at 5.30 A.M.

Often sinking to the thighs, I felt faint at the first exertion. The
tent scarcely seemed to recede as I toiled onwards towards the first
steep slope. The heavy mantle of snow had so altered the contours of the
side of the gully that I was not sure of the direction of the top of the
mountain.

Resting every hund