In the grey light the sastrugi did not show up in relief, and every few feet some member of the party fell sprawling over the snow. At last their eyes were gladdened by the shining surface of the Blue Lake only half a mile distant from winter quarters. But now that the stress and the strain were over, their legs grew heavy and leaden, and that last half-mile seemed to be one of the hardest they had covered. Meanwhile, at winter quarters we had been busy opening cases, with the result that the cubicles of the absentees were crowded with an accumulation, of stores. We had just decided to make the cubicles tidy again for the travellers, and were beginning on the Professor's, when I left the hut for a moment, and to my astonishment saw six slowly moving figures within thirty yards of me. Running towards them, I shouted, "Did you get to the top?" and as there was no answer I asked again. Then Adams pointed with his hand upwards; but, not satisfied by this, I repeated the question, and Adams replied "Yes." After that I dashed to the hut and shouted to the others, who streamed out to cheer the successful venturers. A good feed followed, in which porridge had the place of honour. [Illustration: The Crater of Erebus, 900 feet deep and half a mile wide. Steam is seen rising on the left. The photograph was taken from the lower part of the Crater edge. (_See page 88_)] After some days' delay on account of bad weather, a party consisting of Adams, the Professor, Armytage, Joyce, Wild and Marshall started to fetch in the sledge with the explorers' equipment, and this work was successfully accomplished. Among some of the scientific results of this expedition, as given to me by Professor David, must be mentioned the calculating of the height of the mountains, and that "as regards the geological structure of Erebus, there is evidence of the existence of four superimposed craters." "Two features," the Professor wrote, "in the geology of Erebus which are specially distinctive are: the vast quantities of large and perfect felspar crystals and the ice fumaroles.... Its situation between the belt of polar calms and the South Pole; its isolation from the disturbing influence of large land masses; its great height, which enables it to penetrate the whole system of atmospheric circulation, and the constant steam cloud at its summit, swinging to and fro like a huge wind vane, combine to make Erebus one of the most interesting places on earth to the meteorologist." CHAPTER XVII PREPARATIONS FOR THE WINTER MONTHS After the journey to the summit of Erebus we began to prepare for the long winter months that were rapidly approaching. It was most important, for instance, that the geologists should get as far afield as possible before the winter night closed upon us; so both the Professor and Priestley were out early and late collecting geological specimens which would need to be examined later on.