Men lived in houses
lit by electric light on the east coast. News of the outside world
waited us there, and, above all, the east coast meant for us the means
of rescuing the twenty-two men we had left on Elephant Island.
CHAPTER X
ACROSS SOUTH GEORGIA
The sun rose in the sky with every appearance of a fine day, and we
grew warmer as we toiled through the soft snow. Ahead of us lay the
ridges and spurs of a range of mountains, the transverse range that we
had noticed from the bay. We were travelling over a gently rising
plateau, and at the end of an hour we found ourselves growing
uncomfortably hot. Years before, on an earlier expedition, I had
declared that I would never again growl at the heat of the sun, and my
resolution had been strengthened during the boat journey. I called it
to mind as the sun beat fiercely on the blinding white snow-slope.
After passing an area of crevasses we paused for our first meal. We
dug a hole in the snow about three feet deep with the adze and put the
Primus into it. There was no wind at the moment, but a gust might come
suddenly. A hot hoosh was soon eaten and we plodded on towards a sharp
ridge between two of the peaks already mentioned. By 11 a.m. we were
almost at the crest. The slope had become precipitous and it was
necessary to cut steps as we advanced.
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