At first, in our tired and weak state, we were much dispirited to find no means of crossing the ravine, but eventually Mackay, who had gone ahead, shouted that he had discovered a snow-bridge across it, and when he had rejoined us we pulled the sledge to the head of the bridge. There was a crevasse at both the near and far ends of the bridge, and stepping over the crevasse at the near end we launched the sledge with a run down to the centre of the bridge and then struggled up the steep slope facing us, Mackay steadying the sledge from falling off the narrow causeway, while all of us pulled for all we were worth. In another minute or so we were safely across with our sledge, and thankful to have surmounted the last obstacle between us and our depot. CHAPTER XLIII SAFE ABOARD As we were all thoroughly exhausted and had reached a spot from which we could get a good view of the ocean beyond Drygalski Barrier, we camped at 10.30 P.M. on that evening (February 3) a little over a mile away from our depot. During that day we had two of the most satisfying meals we had eaten for a very long time; a soupy mincemeat of penguin for lunch, and plenty of seal for dinner. And after the second meal Mawson and I turned into the sleeping-bag, leaving Mackay to take the first of our four-hour watches on the look-out for the _Nimrod_. During his watch he walked up to the depot and dug out our biscuit tin, which had served us as a blubber lamp and cooker, together with the cut-down paraffin tin which we had used as a frying-pan, and carried them to the tent. Then he cooked some penguin meat and regaled himself with dainty morsels from the savoury dish, and when he called me at 4 A.M. I found that he had thoughtfully put into the frying-pan about two pounds of penguin's breast for me to toy with during my watch. During the afternoon of the 4th we discussed our future plans, and decided that we had better at once move the tent up to our old depot, where it would be a conspicuous object from the sea, and where, too, we could command a more extensive view of the ocean. [Illustration: A view of the Hut in the Summer. Meteorological Station can be seen on the extreme right. (_See page 60_)] We also talked about what it would be best to do if the Nimrod did not appear, and determined that we ought to tackle the journey to Hut Point, keeping ourselves alive on the way, as best we might, with seal-meat. While, however, Mackay thought we ought to start in a few days, Mawson and I, on the other hand, thought that we should wait where we were until late in February. From whatever point of view we looked at it, our lot was not a happy one.