expect communication with the outside world at an early
date. These were some of the obvious assurances which no one had
the heart to think about at first; and then there was always our
comradeship, most enduring of all.

February, during 1912, was a tolerable month with a fair proportion of
sunny, moderately calm days. A year later, the first eight days of this
month were signalized by the blizzard in which the 'Aurora' had such a
perilous experience. While the winter began in 1912 with the advent of
March, now in 1913 it came on definitely in early February. Autumn was
a term which applied to a few brilliant days which would suddenly
intervene in the dense rack of drift-snow.

We set to work to make the Hut, if anything, safer and snugger. Bage put
finishing touches to the break-wind of rock and cases, and with Hodgeman
and McLean nailed battens of wood over a large sheet of canvas which had
been stretched across the windward side of the roof, overlapping rolls
of black paper, scraps of canvas and bagging, which were also battened
down to make the eastern and western faces more air-tight.

Before the Ship left us, the remaining coal briquettes had been dug out
of a bed of ice and carefully piled on a high point of the rocks. Round
them all the spare timber and broken cases were gathered to provide
sufficient fuel for the ensuing winter. The penguins' eggs, which had
been stored in boxes, were stacked together on the windward side of the
Hut, and a choice selection of steaks of seal and penguin for our own
use were at the storeman's disposal in the veranda.

Madigan, in addition to his meteorological duties, took charge of the
new sledging-dogs which had been presented by Captain Amundsen. A good
many seals had been already killed, and a big cache of meat and blubber
was made alongside the Hut to last throughout the winter.

Bickerton found many odd jobs to occupy his time in connexion with the
petrol-engine and the wireless installations. He was also busied with
the anemometer, which had broken down and needed a strong start for its
second year of usefulness.

Bage, following the parting instructions of Webb, became the owner of
the Magnetograph House and the Absolute Hut, continuing to keep the
magnetic records. As storeman, Bage looked after the food-supplies. The
canvas coverings had made the veranda drift-tight, so the storeman could
arrange his tins and cases on the shelves with some degree of comfort,
and