"This going without food keeps us colder.

It is a rotten, miserable time.

It is bad enough having this wait, but we have also the wretched thought of having to use the provisions already depot-ed, for which we have had all this hard struggle." The weather cleared on the 27th, and in the afternoon Mackintosh and Joyce went back to the depot, while Wild remained behind to build a cairn and attempt to dry the sleeping-bags in the sun.

The stores left at the depot had been two and a quarter tins of biscuit (42 lbs.

to the tin), rations for three men for three weeks in bags, each intended to last one week, and three tins of oil.