"Our first meal, owing to our weakness and the atrophied state of our
stomachs, proved disastrous to a good many. They soon recovered
though. Our beds were just shake-downs on cushions and settees, though
the officer on watch very generously gave up his bunk to two of us. I
think we got very little sleep that night. It was just heavenly to lie
and listen to the throb of the engines, instead of to the crack of the
breaking floe, the beat of the surf on the ice-strewn shore, or the
howling of the blizzard.
"We intend to keep August 30 as a festival for the rest of our lives."
You readers can imagine my feelings as I stood in the little cabin
watching my rescued comrades feeding.
CHAPTER XIII
THE ROSS SEA PARTY
I now turn to the fortunes and misfortunes of the Ross Sea Party and
the 'Aurora'. In spite of extraordinary difficulties occasioned by the
breaking out of the 'Aurora' from her winter quarters before sufficient
stores and equipment had been landed, Captain ?neas Mackintosh and the
party under his command achieved the object of this side of the
Expedition. For the depot that was the main object of the Expedition
was laid in the spot that I had indicated, and if the transcontinental
party had been fortunate enough to have crossed they would have found
the assistance, in the shape of stores, that would have been vital to
the success of their undertaking.
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