Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/235

was perfectly blinding, although the stars were showing overhead.

That evening we had another 'no air' scare, the primus going out and lamps burning dimly until we had made air-holes with bamboos. I see we shall have to be careful in these snowstorms.

July 8.—Still blowing hard, but not so much drift. We had an awful job digging out, as the drift over our door was packed quite hard. This storm has added 2 or 3 feet of hard snow to our drift. It has made the hut much warmer, but has buried our outside meat depôt, and Priestley and I have been trying all day to find it without success.

July 10.—A 'Red Letter' day. As I was walking down to Look Out Point I saw a seal up. It was getting late, so I returned for the knives, and taking Abbott and Browning with me, we ran down and found 2 fat seals.

Abbott had only a short-handled ice-axe with him and had a job to stun his seal. He made several mis-hits, and finally, as the seal was making for the edge, he jumped on its back and gave it a blow on the nose that stunned it. Abbott then got out his knife and tried to stick the seal, but the handle was greasy, and his hands cold, and they slipped up the blade, cutting three fingers badly, so that I had to send him back to the hut, where he arrived feeling very faint from loss of blood. It was quite dark when Browning and I finished cutting up the seals. They were in good condition, the blubber being very thick. It was quite late by the time we got back, but we were able to have a big hoosh, and we shall