cult, that nothing could be done
to brighten his prospects. McLean considered that as the spring returned
and it became possible to take more exercise outside, the nervous
exhaustion would pass off. In the meantime Jeffryes took a complete
rest, and slowly improved as the months went by, and our hopes of relief
came nearer. It was a great misfortune for our comrade, especially as it
was his first experience of such a climate, and he had applied himself
to work with enthusiasm and perhaps in an over-conscientious spirit.

July concluded its stormy career with the astonishing wind-average of
63.6 miles an hour. We were all relieved to see Friday, August 1, appear
on the modest calendar, which it was the particular pleasure of each
night-watchman to change. More light filtered day by day through the ice
on the kitchen window, midwinter lay behind, and we were ready to hail
the first signs of returning spring.

CHAPTER XXIV NEARING THE END

Seven men from all the world, back to town again,
Seven men from out of hell.
Kipling

It is wonderful how quickly the weeks seemed to pass. Situated as we
were, Time became quite an object of study to us and its imperceptible
drift was almost a reality, considering that each day was another step
towards liberty--freedom from the tyranny of the wind. In a sense, the
endless surge of the blizzard was a slow form of torture, and the subtle
effect it had on the mind was measurable in the delight with which one
greeted a calm, fine morning, or noted some insignificant fact which
bespoke the approach of a milder season. Thus in August, although the
weather was colder, there were the merest signs of thawing along the
edges of the snow packed against the rocky faces which looked towards
the sun; Weddell seals came back to the land, and the petrels would at
times appear in large flocks; all of which are very commonplace events
which any one might have expected, but at the time they had more than
their face value.

August 5 was undoubtedly a great day from our very provincial point of
view. On the 4th there had been a dense drift, during which the Hut
was buttressed round with soft snow which rose above the eaves and half
filled the entrance-veranda. The only way in which the night-watchman
could keep the hourly observations was to dig his way out frequently
with a shovel. In the early morning hours of the 5th the wind abated
and veered right r