Estudiante

I
MONDAY MIDNIGHT

it was Jackstraw who had heard the sound first. Aeroplane,' he announced. Aeroplane?' I asked disbelievingly. 'You've been drinking w h i s k y again!' Certainly not, Dr Mason,' Jackstraw smiled. We both knew that he never drank anything stronger than coffee. 'Come and liscen.* That was the last thing I felt like doing. I had been lying in my weeping-bag for fifteen minutesand had only just succeeded 1

Night Without End

in creating a little warmth inside it. My feet, which had been completely frozen, were beginning to come to life again and the idea of getting out into the sub-zero temperatures of our cabin filled me with horror. 'Can you still hear the plane?' I asked. 'Yes. It's getting louder and closer all the time.' I lay there, wondering what type ofplane it could possibly be. 'Dr Mason!' His voice was urgent now. 'I think the plane's in trouble! It's coming lower and closer. It's a big plane - I can hear several engines.' 'Damn!' I said with extreme annoyance. I got out of my sleeping bag and hurriedly put on several layers of clothes. They had already frozen up in the half-hour since I had taken them off. I went over to Joss, our radioman.'Wake up, Joss. I think we're going to need you.' The three of us climbed into our furs — trousers, jackets, hats, boots and gloves - and put on our snow masks, to protect our faces from the freezing cold outside. Then I went up the steps leading to the trap-door in the ceiling, our only exit from the cabin. I banged hard against the door to loosen the frozen ice which surrounded it. Tonight the icecracked easily, so we lost no time in getting out of the cabin. We gasped in pain as the bitter cold entered our lungs. The wind was even stronger than I had expected. Its sound, like that of a human being crying out in pain, was louder than usual, but above that sound we could now hear the roar of the plane's engines. And then we saw it. It was less than two kilometres away, no more than twohundred and fifty metres above the ice-cap. I only saw it for five seconds but what I saw filled me with

Monday

midnight

amazement. It was not the small type of plane I was expecting. It was a huge passenger airliner. Terrifying visions flooded into my mind as I imagined the plane crashing, and the passengers being plunged into those freezing temperatures, sixty degrees below thetemperature of the plane. The plane had turned a full circle and was now slowing down. It seemed to be flying at a dangerously slow speed. Then I saw its landing lights come on. 'He's going to land!' I shouted to Jackstraw. 'He's looking for a place to land. Get the dogs. Tie them to the sledge. Hurry!' I ran back to the cabin, trying to think of all the different things we might need in an emergency. 'Getall the warm clothes you can find, Joss,' I shouted. 'And bring sleeping-bags, blankets - whatever you can think of. Don't forget the fire-fighting equipment, and the snow sticks and for God's sake don't forget the homing spool. We'll never find our way back to the cabin without that.'

Jackstraw was busy tying the dogs to the sledge with the help of balto, the lead dog. Although the dogs werebad-tempered and unwilling, Balto showed his true qualities as a leader, growling and biting his team until they obeyed. I hurried over to the snow-tractor and with great difficulty removed the frozen searchlight that we would no doubt be needing. then we heard the roar of the plane's engines once again. this time they sounded very low and very near. The plane came into sight, passing within twohundred metres of us like a huge, horrible bird. he is coming down to the north of us,' I said. good god he´ll kill h those small ice-hills 3

Night Without End

Our progress was slow and painful as we moved along, fighting against the bitter, icy wind. We were following the line of the radio antenna, that stretched eighty metres to the north and was supported at intervals by pairs of poles,...