CHAPTER XLIIISAFE ABOARD
As we were all thoroughly exhausted and had reached a spot from which we could get a good view of the ocean beyond Drygalski Barrier, we camped at 10.30P.M.on that evening (February 3) a little over a mile away from our depot.
During that day we had two of the most satisfying meals we had eaten for a very long time; a soupy mincemeat of penguin for lunch, and plenty of seal for dinner.
And after the second meal Mawson and I turned into the sleeping-bag, leaving Mackay to take the first of our four-hour watches on the look-out for theNimrod. During his watch he walked up to the depot and dug out our biscuit tin, which had served us as a blubber lamp and cooker, together with the cut-down paraffin tin which we had used as a frying-pan, and carried them to the tent.
Then he cooked some penguin meat and regaled himself with dainty morsels from the savoury dish, and when he called me at 4A.M.I found that he had thoughtfully put into the frying-pan about two pounds of penguin's breast for me to toy with during my watch.
During the afternoon of the 4th we discussed our future plans, and decided that we had better at once move the tent up to our old depot, where it would be a conspicuous object from the sea, and where, too, we could command a more extensive view of the ocean.
A view of the Hut in the Summer. Meteorological Station can be seen on the extreme right.(See page 60)
A view of the Hut in the Summer. Meteorological Station can be seen on the extreme right.(See page 60)
We also talked about what it would be best to do if the Nimrod did not appear, and determined that we ought to tackle the journey to Hut Point, keeping ourselves alive on the way, as best we might, with seal-meat.
While, however, Mackay thought we ought to start in a few days, Mawson and I, on the other hand, thought that we should wait where we were until late in February. From whatever point of view we looked at it, our lot was not a happy one.
Dispirited, indeed, by forebodings of much toil and trouble, we were just preparing to set our weary limbs in motion to pack up and trek up to the depot, when—Bang! went something, seemingly close to the door of our tent. The sound thrilled us; in another instant the air reverberated with a big boom, much louder than the first sound.
Mawson was the first to give tongue, roaring out, "A gun from the ship!" and dived for the tent door. As the latter was narrow there was for the moment some congestion of traffic. I dashed my head forwards, only in time to receive a few kicks from the departing Mawson. Just as I was recovering my equilibrium, Mackay made a wild charge, rode me down, and trampled over my prostrate body.
When at last I got started, Mawson had got a lead of a hundred and Mackay of about fifty yards. "Bring something to wave," Mawson shouted, and rushing back to the tent I seized Mackay's ruck-sack.
And then as I ran forward again, what a sight met my gaze! Not a quarter of a mile away was the dear old Nimrod, steaming straight towards us up the inlet, and at the sight of the three of us hastening frantically tomeet the ship, hearty ringing cheers burst forth from all on board.
It would be hard, indeed, for anyone who has never been situated as we had been, to realise the sudden revulsion of our feelings, or to understand how those cheers stirred every fibre within us. In a moment, as dramatic as it was heavenly, we seemed to have passed from death into life.
My first feelings were of intense joy and relief, then of fervent gratitude to the kind Providence which had so mercifully led our friends to our deliverance.
Suddenly, however, a shout from Mackay called me back to earth: "Mawson's fallen into a deep crevasse—look out, it's just in front of you," he called, and I saw him kneeling near the edge of a small oblong hole in the névé.
"Are you all right, Mawson?" he asked, and from the depth came up the welcome word, "Yes."
Mackay then told me that Mawson was about twenty feet down the crevasse, and we decided to try to pull him up with the sledge harness and hurried back to get it. Our combined strength, however, was not enough to pull him up, and as there was a danger of the snow lid at the surface falling in on Mawson unless it was strengthened with some planking, we gave up our attempt, I remaining at the crevasse while Mackay hurried off for help to the Nimrod.
"Mawson has fallen down a crevasse, and we got to the Magnetic Pole," Mackay called out, and almost in less time than it takes to write it officers and sailors were swarming over the bows of theNimrodand dropping on to the ice barrier.
I called to Mawson that help was at hand, and he replied that he was quite comfortable, for although therewas seawater at the bottom of the crevasse, he was able to sustain himself a couple of feet above it on the small ledge that had stopped his fall.
Meanwhile, the rescue party, headed by J. K. Davis, the first officer of theNimrod, had arrived, and when the crevasse had been bridged with a piece of sawn timber, Davis, with the thoroughness which characterised all his work, promptly had himself lowered down the crevasse. And presently Mawson, with only his back slightly bruised from this fall, and then Davis were safely on the top.
What a joyous grasping of hands and hearty all-round welcoming followed, and foremost among those old friends who greeted us was Captain Evans who had commanded theKoonya, and who was then in command of theNimrod, a fact which gave us the greatest satisfaction. Quickly he assured me of the good health of my wife and family, and while willing hands packed up our sledge and other belongings, Captain Evans walked with us to the rope ladder hanging over the bows of theNimrod.
Quickly as all this had taken place, Mackay had already found time to secure a pipe and some tobacco from one of our crew, and was pulling away to his heart's content.
After our one hundred and twenty-two days of hard toil over the sea ice of the coast, and the great snow desert of the Hinterland, the little ship seemed to us as luxurious as an ocean liner. Pleasantly the buzz of our friends' voices—giving us all the news—blended itself with the gentle fizzing of steam from theNimrod'sboiler, and surely since the days of John Gilpin "were never folk so glad" as were we three.
Afternoon tea came first and then the joy of reading the home letters, and finding good news in them. Later we three had a novel experience, the first real wash forover four months, and after diligent scrubbing bits of our real selves began to show through the covering of seal-oil and soot.
Of course we over-ate ourselves at dinner, but all the same we were ready to partake liberally of hot cocoa and biscuits before we turned in at 10P.M.
Under Providence we felt we owed our lives to the thorough search, sound judgment and fine seamanship of Captain Evans, and the devotion to duty of his officers and crew.
My last thought in the twilight that comes between wakefulness and sleep is expressed in the words of our favourite record on the gramophone, "So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still will lead me on."