nists, and the packers. The first made up a compound
of cocoa, glaxo and sugar--cocoa compound; mixed glaxo and sugar and
stirred together, pemmican and biscuit--pemmican compound. These were
weighed and run into calico bags, rapidly supplied by several machinists
farther along the table. In spare moments the weighers stowed chocolate,
whole biscuits, butter and tea into 190 sacks of various sizes. Lastly,
the packers had strong canvas tanks, as they were called, designed
to hold food for a week and a fortnight respectively. Into these the
rations were carefully distributed, butter in the centre, whole biscuits
near the top. Then the tanks were tightly closed, and one man operated
with palm and sail-needle, sewing them up with twine. At the same time,
a side-line was run in pemmican which was removed semi-frozen from the
air-tight tins, and shaved into small pieces with a strong sheath-knife.
Butter, too, arrived from the refrigerator-store and was subdivided into
two-ounce or pound lumps.

Meanwhile, other occupations were in full swing. An amateur cobbler,
his crampon on a last, studded its spiked surface with clouts, hammering
away in complete disregard of the night-watchman's uneasy slumbers. The
big sewing-machine raced at top-speed round the flounce of a tent, and
in odd corners among the bunks were groups mending mitts, strengthening
sleeping-bags and patching burberrys. The cartographer at his table
beneath a shaded acetylene light drew maps and sketched, the magnetician
was busy on calculations close by. The cook and messman often made their
presence felt and heard. In the outer Hut, the lathe spun round, its
whirr and click drowned in the noisy rasp of the grinder and the blast
of the big blow-lamp. The last-named, Bickerton, "bus-driver" and
air-tractor expert, had converted, with the aid of a few pieces of
covering tin, into a forge. A piece of red-hot metal was lifted out and
thrust into the vice; Hannam was striker and Bickerton holder. General
conversation was conducted in shouts, Hannam's being easily predominant.

The sum total of sounds was sufficient for a while to make every one
oblivious to the clamour of the restless wind.

CHAPTER XI SPRING EXPLOITS

If the "winter calms" were a delusion, there were at least several
beautifully clear, moderately calm days in June. The expectation of
colder weather had been realized, and by the end of the month it was a
perceptible fact that the sun had de