and found a little bay which promised so well for the winter that
Scott's determination to remain in this region was at once strengthened.
The situation, however, was surrounded with difficulties, for although
the ice had broken far afield it refused to move out of the small
bay on which they had looked with such eager eyes; consequently
they were forced to cling to the outskirts of the bay with their
ice-anchors, in depths that were too great to allow the large anchors
to be dropped to the bottom. The weather also was troublesome,
for after the ship had lain quietly during several hours a sudden
squall would fling her back on her securing ropes, and, uprooting
the ice-anchors, would ultimately send her adrift.

In spite, however, of the difficulty of keeping the ship in position,
steady progress was made with the work on shore, and this consisted
mainly in erecting the various huts which had been brought in pieces.
The original intention had been that the _Discovery_ should not
winter in the Antarctic, but should land a small party and turn
northward before the season closed, and for this party a large hut
had been carried south. But even when it had been decided to keep the
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ship as a home, it was obvious that a shelter on shore must be
made before exploring parties could be safely sent away; since
until the ship was frozen in a heavy gale might have driven her off
her station for several days, if not altogether. In seeking winter
quarters so early in February, Scott had been firmly convinced that
the season was closing in. 'With no experience to guide us, our
opinion could only be based on the very severe and unseasonable
conditions which we had met with to the east. But now to our
astonishment we could see no sign of a speedy freezing of the bay;
the summer seemed to have taken a new lease, and for several weeks