Part 39 (1/2)
The toil of it none may share; By yourself must the way be won Through fervid or frozen air Till the overland journey's done.
Christmas Day! The day that ever reminds one of the sweet story of old, the lessons of childhood, the joys of Santa Claus--the day on which the thoughts of the wildest wanderer turn to home and peace and love. All the world was cheerful; the sun was bright, the air was calm. It was the hometrail, provisions were in plenty, the sledge was light and our hearts lighter.
The eastern edge of Ninnis Glacier was near, and, leaving the sea-ice, we were soon straining up the first slope, backed by a line of ridges trending north-east and south-west, with shallow valleys intervening. On the wind-swept crests there were a few creva.s.ses well packed with snow.
It was a day's work of twelve miles and we felt ready for Christmas dinner. McLean was cook and had put some apple-rings to soak in the cooker after the boil-up at lunch. Beyond this and the fact that he took some penguin-meat into the tent, he kept his plans in the deepest mystery. Correll and I were kept outside making things snug and taking the meteorological observations, until the word came to enter. When at last we scrambled in, a delicious smell diffused through the tent, and there was a sound of frying inside the cooker-pot. We were presented with a menu which read:
”Peace on earth, good will to men.”
Xmas 1912 KING GEORGE V. LAND 200 miles east of Winter Quarters.
MENU DU DINER Hors d'oeuvre Biscuit de plasmon Ration du lard glace
Entree Monsieur l'Empereur Pingouin frica.s.se
Piece de Resistance Pemmican naturel a l'Antarctique
Dessert Hotch-potch de pommes et de raisins Chocolat au sucre glaxone Liqueur bien ancienne de l'Ecosse
Cigarettes Tabac
The hors d'oeuvre of bacon ration was a welcome surprise. McLean had carried the tin unknown to us up till this moment. The penguin, fried in lumps of fat taken from the pemmican, and a little b.u.t.ter, was delicious. In the same pot the hoosh was boiled and for once we noted an added piquancy. Next followed the plum-pudding--dense mixture of powdered biscuit, glaxo, sugar, raisins and apple-rings, surpa.s.sing the finest, flaming, holly-decked, Christmas creation.
Then came the toasts. McLean produced the whisky from the medical kit and served it out, much diluted, in three mugs. There was not three ounces in all, but it flavoured the water.
I was asked to call ”The King.” McLean proposed ”The Other Sledgers” in a n.o.ble speech, wis.h.i.+ng them every success; and then there were a few drops left to drink to ”Ourselves,” whom Correll eulogized to our complete satisfaction. We then drew on the meagre supply of cigarettes and lay on our bags, feeling as comfortable as the daintiest epicure after a twelve-course dinner, drinking his coffee and smoking his cigar.
We talked till twelve o'clock, and then went outside to look at the midnight sun, s.h.i.+ning brightly just above the southern horizon. Turning in, we were once more at home in our dreams.
By a lat.i.tude shot at noon on Boxing Day, I found that our position was not as far north as expected. The following wind had been probably slightly east of south-east and too much westing had been made. From a tangle of broken ridges whose surface was often granular, half-consolidated ice, the end of the day opened up a lilac plain of sea-ice ahead. We were once more on the western side of Ninnis Glacier and the familiar coast of Penguin Point, partly hidden by an iceberg, sprang into view. The depot hill to the north-west could be recognized, twenty miles away, across a wide bay. By hooch-time we had found a secure path to the sea-ice, one hundred and eighty feet below.
The wind sprang up opportunely on the morning of the 27th, and the sun was serene in a blue sky. Up went the sail and with a feather-weight load we strode off for the depot eighteen miles distant. Three wide rifts in the sea-ice exercised our ingenuity during the day's march, but by the time the sun was in the south-west the sledge was sawing through the sandy snow of the depot hill. It was unfortunate that the food of this depot had been cached so far out of our westerly course, as the time expended in recovering it might have been profitably given to a survey of the mainland east of Penguin Point. At 6.20 P.M., after eighteen and a quarter miles, the food-bag was sighted on the mound, and that night the dinner at our one-hundred-and-fifty-two-mile depot was marked by some special innovations.
Penguin Point, thirty miles away, bore W. 15 degrees S., and next day we made a bid for it by a march of sixteen miles. There was eleven days'
ration on the sledge to take us to Mount Murchison, ninety miles away; consequently the circuitous route to the land was held to be a safe ”proposition.”
Many rock faces became visible, and I was able to fix numerous prominent points with the theodolite.
At three miles off the coast, the surface became broken by ridges, small bergs and high, narrow cupolas of ice surrounded by deep moats. One of these was very striking. It rose out of a wind-raked hollow to a height of fifty feet; just the shape of an ancient Athenian helmet. McLean took a photograph.
As at Horn Bluff, the ice became thinner and freer of snow as we drew near the Point. The rocky wall under which the tent was raised proved to be three hundred feet high, jutting out from beneath the slopes of ice.
From here the coast ran almost south on one side and north-west on the other. On either hand there were dark faces corniced with snow.
The next day was devoted to exploration. Adelie penguins waddled about the tide-crack over which we crossed to examine the rock, which was of coa.r.s.e-grained granite, presenting great, vertical faces. Hundreds of snow petrels flew about and some stray skua gulls were seen.
Near the camp, on thick ice, were several large blocks of granite which had floated out from the sh.o.r.e and lay each in its pool of thaw-water, covered with serpulae and lace coral.
Correll, our Izaak Walton, had brought a fis.h.i.+ng-line and some penguin-meat. He stopped near the camp fis.h.i.+ng while McLean and I continued down the coast, examining the outcrops. The type of granite remained unchanged in the numerous exposures.
I had noticed a continuous rustling sound for some time and found at length that it was caused by little streams of ice-crystals running down the steep slopes in cascades, finally pouring out in piles on the sea-ice. The partial thaw in the sunlight causes the semi-solid ice to break up into separate grains. Sometimes whole areas of the surface, in delicate equilibrium, would suddenly flow rapidly away.
For three miles we walked, and as the next four miles of visible coast presented no extensive outcrops, we turned back for lunch.