write (2 P.M.) from men tired after a hard day's work and preparing
for such another to-morrow. I also must sleep, for I have had none
for 48 hours--but it should be to dream happily.

_Thursday, January_ 5.--All hands were up at 5 this morning and at
work at 6. Words cannot express the splendid way in which everyone
works and gradually the work gets organised. I was a little late on
the scene this morning, and thereby witnessed a most extraordinary
scene. Some 6 or 7 killer whales, old and young, were skirting the fast
floe edge ahead of the ship; they seemed excited and dived rapidly,
almost touching the floe. As we watched, they suddenly appeared astern,
raising their snouts out of water. I had heard weird stories of these
beasts, but had never associated serious danger with them. Close to
the water's edge lay the wire stern rope of the ship, and our two
Esquimaux dogs were tethered to this. I did not think of connecting
the movements of the whales with this fact, and seeing them so close
I shouted to Ponting, who was standing abreast of the ship. He seized
his camera and ran towards the floe edge to get a close picture of the
beasts, which had momentarily disappeared. The next moment the whole
floe under him and the dogs heaved up and split into fragments. One
could hear the 'booming' noise as the whales rose under the ice and
struck it with their backs. Whale after whale rose under the ice,
setting it rocking fiercely; luckily Ponting kept his feet and was
able to fly to security. By an extraordinary chance also, the splits
had been made around and between the dogs, so that neither of them
fell into the water. Then it was clear that the whales shared our
astonishment, for one after another their huge hideous heads shot
vertically into the air through the cracks which they had made. As
they reared them to a height of 6 or 8 feet it was possible to see
their tawny head markings, their small glistening eyes, and their