All hands are cheery and busy, and
will do their best when the time for action comes. In the meantime we
must wait."
The ship's position on Sunday, May 2, was lat. 75° 23? S., long. 42°
14? W. The temperature at noon was 5° below zero Fahr., and the sky
was overcast. A seal was sighted from the mast-head at lunch-time, and
five men, with two dog teams, set off after the prize. They had an
uncomfortable journey outward in the dim, diffused light, which cast no
shadows and so gave no warning of irregularities in the white surface.
It is a strange sensation to be running along on apparently smooth snow
and to fall suddenly into an unseen hollow, or bump against a ridge.
"After going out three miles to the eastward," wrote Worsley in
describing this seal-hunt, "we range up and down but find nothing,
until from a hummock I fancy I see something apparently a mile away,
but probably little more than half that distance. I ran for it, found
the seal, and with a shout brought up the others at the double. The
seal was a big Weddell, over 10 ft. long and weighing more than 800
lbs. But Soldier, one of the team leaders, went for its throat without
a moment's hesitation, and we had to beat off the dogs before we could
shoot the seal. We caught five or six gallons of blood in a tin for
the dogs, and let the teams have a drink of fresh blood from the seal.
Pages:
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102