Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/93

before Bill and me. I dragged my eiderdown out on my feet all sopping wet; it was impossible to get it back, and I let it freeze—it was soon just like a rock. I followed Bill down the slope when we heard a shout on our right and made for it with hope. We got on a slope, slipped, and went sliding down, quite unable to stop ourselves, and came to Birdie with the tent, outer lining still on the bamboos. We were so thankful we said nothing. The tent was over the ridge to the N.E. of the igloo at the bottom of the steep slope about half of a mile away. I believe that it blew away because part of it was in the wind, and part in the lee of the igloo.

It looked as if it would start blowing again at any moment and was getting thick, and we hurried back with the tent, slithering up and down, and pitched it where we had pitched it on our arrival. Never was tent so firmly dug in, by Bill, while Birdie and I got our gear, such as we could find, down from the igloo. Luckily the wind from the S. and the back-draught from the N. had blown everything inwards when the roof went, and we managed to find or dig out almost everything except Bill's fur mits. These were packed into a hole in rocks to prevent drift coming in. We had a meal in the tent; searched for the parts of the cooker down the slope, but only found a track of small bits of roof cloth. We were very weak. We packed the tank ready for a start back in the morning and turned in, utterly worn out. It was only −12° that night, but my left big toe was frostbitten in my bag, which I was trying to use without an eiderdown lining.