Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/492

The number of dogs who were fit for work on the Barrier made exactly two teams. This left at the hut seven dogs who could work but were unable to stand the trials of a long journey. Debenham started to exercise these dogs for geological purposes around the hut. Small as the team was, it made up in obstinacy and trouble for its size.

The chief trouble was getting away from the Cape down a pretty steep ice-foot, and the old leader, Stareek, generally refusing to do his duty when he was within reach of the hut, their direction at first was uncertain.

On September 3, Wright, Debenham, Cherry-Garrard, and I made a small trip over the Barne Glacier to Cape Royds, Shackleton's winter quarters. Our main object was to secure a few luxuries and to leave some spirit and apparatus there for work to be done amongst the penguins in the summer. We found on arriving that the bays and the whole of the Sound as far as we could see were practically free from ice.

On September 5, during a stiff blow, our chimney caught fire. The chimney consisted of an upright piece which went through the hut about the middle. A galley and a stove were at either end of the hut; from each of these a funnel ran and connected with the central upright piece. The fire started at first in the centre and gradually spread down towards the galley or cooking range. We got the flames under control by covering the chimney on the outside with large slabs of snow, the inside of the hut meanwhile being full of smoke and smuts. After some trouble the funnel was disjointed, taken out and swept through.