Hunger had seized them for they had practically no food left, but two hours after they had dashed down the slope they could see Cape Royds and hoped soon to be at the winter quarters. Immediately afterwards, however, such thick snow began to fall that they could not see two yards ahead, and for hours they were stumbling along in the blinding storm. Occasionally they rested for a few minutes, but icicles hung from their faces, and they did not dare to stay still for long. Heavy snow continued to cut off all view of the surrounding country, and they had been wandering for twenty-seven hours after their glissade, when Day found them in a state of complete exhaustion, and just staggering along because they knew that to stop meant death. Had not Day been outside the hut--to which the travellers had no idea they were close--watching for the return of the ship, that expedition, undertaken so light-heartedly, must almost certainly have been a fatal one to Mackintosh and McGillan. The two weary men reached the hut on January 12, but a week before that date the _Nimrod_ had arrived at Cape Royds, and had gone north again to search for them. Doomed to disappointment and horror were the men at the hut when they learned that not only were they not to have any letters, but that also Mackintosh and McGillan had left the ship on the 3rd to try to bring the letters more quickly over the sea-ice and over the bay, which even then was filled with loose pack and which a few days before had been open water. [Illustration: The "Nimrod" held up in the Ice. (_See page 178_)] On January 7 the _Nimrod_ left Cape Royds again to seek for the lost men, and in a few hours was beset by ice, and so remained for practically the whole of the time between the 7th and the 15th. On the afternoon of the 16th, however, the ship cleared the ice, and approached the only piece of shore on which there was a chance of finding Mackintosh and McGillan. Near the end of a stretch of beach a small patch of greenish colour was seen, and the telescope revealed the details of a deserted camp and a tent torn to ribbons. A boat was at once sent ashore, and the bag of letters was discovered, and also a note from Mackintosh telling of his risky attempt to cross the mountains. As Murray, who was on the ship, knew the frightfully crevassed character of the ground which Mackintosh and McGillan had determined to cross, little hope of their safety remained. Judge, then, the joy of those on board the _Nimrod_ when two men came out to meet the ship on its arrival at Cape Royds, and one of them was seen to be McGillan. CHAPTER XXXIII THE WESTERN PARTY How well Joyce and his party, consisting of Mackintosh, Day and Martin, placed a depot of stores about fourteen miles off Minna Bluff, and how glad the Southern Party were to find them there has already been told.