“We shouted.  No sound.  Shouted again, and presently a dark object appeared.  This turned out to be Cope, who was by himself.  The other members of the party had gone out to fetch the gear off their sledge, which they also had left.  Cope had been laid up, so did not go with them.  We soon were telling each other’s adventures, and we heard then how the ship had called here on March 11 and picked up Spencer-Smith, Richards, Ninnis, Hooke, and Gaze, the present members here being Cope, Hayward, and Jack.  A meal was soon prepared.  We found here even a blubber-fire, luxurious, but what a state of dirt and grease!  However, warmth and food are at present our principal objects.  While we were having our meal Jack and Hayward appeared....  Late in the evening we turned into dry bags.  As there are only three bags here, we take it in turns to use them.  Our party have the privilege....  I got a letter here from Stenhouse giving a summary of his doings since we left him.  The ship’s party also have not had a rosy time.”

Mackintosh learned here that Spencer-Smith, Jack, and Gaze, who had turned back on February 10, had reached Hut Point without difficulty.  The third party, headed by Cope, had also been out on the Barrier but had not done much.  This party had attempted to use the motor-tractor, but had failed to get effective service from the machine and had not proceeded far afield.  The motor was now lying at Hut Point.  Spencer-Smith’s party and Cope’s party had both returned to Hut Point before the end of February.

The six men now at Hut Point were cut off from the winter quarters of the Expedition at Cape Evans by the open water of McMurdo Sound.  Mackintosh naturally was anxious to make the crossing and get in touch with the ship and the other members of the shore party; but he could not make a move until the sea-ice became firm, and, as events occurred, he did not reach Cape Evans until the beginning of June.  He went out with Cope and Hayward on March 29 to get his sledge and brought it as far as Pram Point, on the south side of Hut Point.  He had to leave the sledge there owing to the condition of the sea-ice.  He and his companions lived an uneventful life under primitive conditions at the hut.  The weather was bad, and though the temperatures recorded were low, the young sea-ice continually broke away.  The blubber-stove in use at the hut seemed to have produced soot and grease in the usual large quantities, and the men and their clothing suffered accordingly.  The whites of their eyes contrasted vividly with the dense blackness of their skins.  Wild and Joyce had a great deal of trouble with their frost-bites.  Joyce had both feet blistered, his knees were swollen, and his hands also were blistered.  Jack devised some blubber-lamps, which produced an uncertain light and much additional smoke.  Mackintosh records that the members of the party were contented enough but “unspeakably dirty,” and he writes