–from Douglas Mawson’t account, “The Home of the Blizzard”–
“The whole world is asleep except the night-watchman, and he, having made the bread, washed a tubful of clothes, kept the fire going, observed and made notes on the aurora every fifteen minutes and the weather every half-hour, and, finally, having had a bath, indulges in buttered toast and a cup of coffee.
“The Hut is dark and a shaded burner hangs by a canvas chair in the kitchen. The wind is booming in gusts, the dogs howl occasionally in the veranda, but the night-watchman and his pipe are at peace with all men. He has discarded a heavy folio for a light romance, while the hours scud by, broken only by the observations. The romance is closed and he steals to his bunk with a hurricane lamp and finds a bundle of letters. He knows them well, but he reads them–again!
“Pearly light rises in the north-east through the lessening drift, and another day has come.”
Antarctic Discovery 