Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/162

lasting with occasional lulls until the 14th. The morning was overcast, with a cold southerly wind, and when I was out for a walk with Levick we both got our noses frostbitten. In the evening a strong gale blew with drift, and between 1 and 4 a.m. on the 6th the squalls were of hurricane force.

The hut shook and creaked, but stood up to it all right, though some of the ruberoid on the roof was ripped off, a heavy ladder blown some way to leeward, and the outer wall of our porch, made of cases and boards, blown in. In the forenoon the wind eased a little and we were able to get out and secure what we could. The squalls were still so fierce it was impossible to stand in them, and one had to 'heave to' on hands and knees until they passed.

All the sea ice had gone out, although it was over 2 feet thick, and on the 8th the gale freshened again, and during the night the squalls were as hard as any we had had, stones and pebbles rattling against the hut. On the 9th it eased a little, but blew a whole gale until Saturday 13th, when the wind dropped. The peninsula had been swept bare of snow, but the beach and huts were covered with frozen spray. On the 19th the sun left us, but the weather improved, being clear and cold, while the temperature dropped to below zero F. By May 28 the sea ice seemed pretty solid all round us, the temperature being −30° F., and we walked out to the 'Sisters,' two pillar rocks lying off Cape Adare. The ice here showed heavy pressure. There are a good number of bergs frozen in to the northward of us.