We might have paused to have admired the spectacle under other conditions; but night was coming on apace, and we needed a camping-place.

As we steered north-west, still amid the ice-floes, the 'Dudley Docker' got jammed between two masses while attempting to make a short cut.

The old adage about a short cut being the longest way round is often as true in the Antarctic as it is in the peaceful countryside.

The 'James Caird' got a line aboard the 'Dudley Docker', and after some hauling the boat was brought clear of the ice again.

We hastened forward in the twilight in search of a flat, old floe, and presently found a fairly large piece rocking in the swell.