[Alarums without. Loud cries of "Door!" Enter TEREBUS with box of ice; fills all the pots on the stove. ERROR. Good heavens, man, you've filled up the tea water with ice. TEREBUS [with hoarse laugh]. Never mind, they won't want so much glaxo to cool it. ERROR [who has meanwhile been mixing bread]. What shall we bake the bread in? I believe it is considered that a square tin is more suitable for ordinary ovens, but, on the other hand, Nansen in his 'Farthest North' used flat dishes. TEREBUS. Use a tin. There'll be less surface exposed to the cold oven. ERROR. What's all this water on the floor? I thought my feet seemed cold. Some one must have upset a bucket. TEREBUS. Oh, it's one of the taps turned on. Never mind, there's plenty more ice where that came from. Get your sea-boots. [Enter METEOROLOGICAL STAFF and others with snow-covered burberrys, mitts, etc., crowd kitchen and hang impedimenta round the stove. Great tumult. TEREBUS. Here, out of the kitchen. This isn't the time to worry the cooks. ERROR. Take those burberrys away, please, old man. They're dripping into the soup. TEREBUS. Give it some flavour at least. [Great activity in the crater of ERROR while TEREBUS clears the kitchen. ERROR continues stirring Soup and tapioca custard on the stove. Strong smell of burning. VOICES [in peculiarly joyful chorus]. Something burning! ERROR [aside to TEREBUS]. It's all right. It will taste all right. Say it's cloth on the stove. TEREBUS. Somebody's burberrys burning against the stove!! [General rush to the stove. TEREBUS. It's all right, I've taken them away. [Interval, during which much sotto voce discussion is heard in the kitchen. ERROR. We haven't put the spinach on to thaw and it's after six o'clock. TEREBUS. Warm it up and put it on the table with the tin-openers. ERROR. I'm afraid that's against the regulations. Put it in the oven and shut the door. [TEREBUS does so. Later, terrific explosion, followed by strong smell of spinach. VOICES. What's the matter? Terebus in eruption! TEREBUS [wiping spinach off his face]. Nothing wrong. Only a tin of spinach opened automatically. ERROR. It's plastered all over the oven and on everything. TEREBUS. Don't worry, it will be served up with the baked penguin. [Period of partial quiescence of TEREBUS and ERROR, which is regarded as an evil omen. ERROR [in persuasive tone]. Have you made the tea, old boy? It's nearly half-past six. [TEREBUS takes off the lid of the tea-boiler, peers inside, making a scoop with his hand. ERROR. Here, don't do that. Mind your hands. TEREBUS. It's all right, it's not hot. ERROR. What shall we do, then? We'll never keep them quiet if we are late with the tea. TEREBUS. Put the tea in now. It will be warmed up by the second course. [TEREBUS puts the infusers in the pot and stirs them round. ERROR. Taste it. [BOTH taste with a dirty spoon. TEREBUS. Tastes like your soup--'orrible!