pine-spar (probably part of a ship's
topmast), several pieces of timber, and a little model of a ship's
hull, evidently a child's toy. We wondered what tragedy that pitiful
little plaything indicated. We encountered also some gentoo penguins
and a young sea-elephant, which Worsley killed.
When we got back to the cave at 3 p.m., tired, hungry, but rather
pleased with ourselves, we found a splendid meal of stewed albatross
chicken waiting for us. We had carried a quantity of blubber and the
sea-elephant's liver in our blouses, and we produced our treasures as a
surprise for the men. Rough climbing on the way back to camp had
nearly persuaded us to throw the stuff away, but we had held on
(regardless of the condition of our already sorely tried clothing), and
had our reward at the camp. The long bay had been a magnificent sight,
even to eyes that had dwelt on grandeur long enough and were hungry for
the simple, familiar things of everyday life. Its green-blue waters
were being beaten to fury by the north-westerly gale. The mountains,
"stern peaks that dared the stars," peered through the mists, and
between them huge glaciers poured down from the great ice-slopes and
fields that lay behind. We counted twelve glaciers and heard every few
minutes the reverberating roar caused by masses of ice calving from the
parent streams.
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