Range looks like pre-Cambrian slate,
    with plain signs of many other upheaved strata. Was wrong about
    volcanism. Goes farther in either direction than we can see. Swept
    clear of snow above about twenty-one thousand feet. "Odd formations on slopes of highest mountains. Great low square
    blocks with exactly vertical sides, and rectangular lines of low,
    vertical ramparts, like the old Asian castles clinging to steep
    mountains in Roerich's paintings. Impressive from distance. Flew
    close to some, and Carroll thought they were formed of smaller
    separate pieces, but that is probably weathering. Most edges
    crumbled and rounded off as if exposed to storms and climate
    changes for millions of years. "Parts, especially upper parts, seem to be of lighter-colored
    rock than any visible strata on slopes proper, hence an evidently
    crystalline origin. Close flying shows many cave mouths, some
    unusually regular in outline, square or semicircular. You must come
    and investigate. Think I saw rampart squarely on top of one peak. Height seems about thirty thousand to thirty-five thousand feet. Am
    up twenty-one thousand five hundred myself, in devilish, gnawing
    cold. Wind whistles and pipes through passes and in and out of
    caves, but no flying danger so far." From then on for another half hour Lake kept up a running fire of
comment, and expressed his intention of climbing some of the peaks on
foot. I replied that I would join him as soon as he could send a plane,
and that Pabodie and I would work out the best gasoline plan--just
where and how to concentrate our supply in view of the expedition's
altered character. Obviously, Lake's boring operations, as well as his aëroplane
activities, would need a great deal delivered at the new base which
he was to establish at the foot of the mountains; and it was possible
that the eastward flight might not be made, after all, this season. In
connection with this business I called Captain Douglas and asked him to
get as much as possible out of the ships and up the barrier with the
single dog team we had left there. A direct route across the unknown
region between Lake and McMurdo Sound was what we really ought to
establish. Lake called me later to say that he had decided to let the camp stay
where Moulton's plane had been forced down, and where repairs had
already progressed somewhat. The ice sheet was very thin, with dark
ground here and there visible, and he would sink some borings and
blasts at that very point before making any sledge trips or climbing
expeditions. He spoke of the ineffable majesty of the whole scene, and the queer
state of his sensations at being in the lee of vast, silent pinnacles,
whose ranks shot up like a wall reaching the sky at the world's rim. [Illustration: _It was a queer state of sensations--being in the lee of
vast, silent pinnacles, where ranks shot up like a wall reaching the
sky at the world's rim._]

Atwood's theodolite observations had placed the height of the five
tallest peaks at from thirty thousand to thirty-four thousand feet. The windswept nature of the terrain clearly disturbed Lake, for it
argued the occasional existence of prodigious gales, violent beyond
anything we had so far encountered. His camp lay a little more than
five miles from where the higher foothills rose abruptly. I could almost trace a note of subconscious alarm in his words--flashed
across a glacial void of seven hundred miles--as he urged that we all
hasten with the matter and get the strange, new region disposed of as
soon as possible. He was about to rest now, after a continuous day's
work of almost unparalleled speed, strenuousness, and results. *       *       *       *       *

In the morning I had a three-cornered wireless talk with Lake and
Captain Douglas at their widely separated bases. It was agreed that one
of Lake's planes would come to my base for Pabodie, the five men, and
myself, as well as for all the fuel it could carry. The rest of the
fuel question, depending on our decision about an easterly trip, could
wait for a few days, since Lake had enough for immediate camp heat and
borings. Eventually the old southern base ought to be restocked, but if we
postponed the easterly trip we would not use it till the next summer,
and, meanwhile, Lake must send a plane to explore a direct route
between his new mountains and McMurdo Sound. Pabodie and I prepared to close our base for a short or long period, as
the case might be. If we wintered in the antarctic we would probably
fly straight from Lake's base to the _Arkham_ without returning to
this spot. Some of our conical tents had already been reinforced by
blocks of hard snow, and now we decided to complete the job of making a
permanent village. Owing to a very liberal tent supply, Lake had with
him all that his base would need, even after our arrival. I wirelessed
that Pabodie and I would be ready for the northwestward move after one
day's work and one night's rest. Our labors, however, were not very steady after four p.m., for about
that time Lake began sending in the most extraordinary and excited
messages. His working day had started unpropitiously, since an
aëroplane survey of the nearly exposed rock surfaces showed an entire
absence of those Archæan and primordial strata for which he was
looking, and which formed so great a part of the colossal peaks that
loomed up at a tantalizing distance from the camp. Most of the rocks glimpsed were apparently Jurassic and Comanchean
sandstones and Permian and Triassic schists, with now and then a glossy
black outcropping suggesting a hard and slaty coal. This rather discouraged Lake, whose plans all hinged on unearthing
specimens more than five hundred million years older. It was clear
to him that in order to recover the Archæan slate vein in which he
had found the odd markings, he would have to make a long sledge trip
from these foothills to the steep slopes of the gigantic mountains
themselves. He had resolved, nevertheless, to do some local boring as part of the
expedition's general program; hence, he set up the drill and put five
men to work with it while the rest finished settling the camp and
repairing the damaged aëroplane. The softest visible rock--a sandstone
about a quarter of a mile from the camp--had been chosen for the
first sampling; and the drill made excellent progress without much
supplementary blasting. It was about three hours afterward, following the first really heavy
blast of the operation, that the shouting of the drill crew was heard;
and that young Gedney--the acting foreman--rushed into the camp with
the startling news. *       *       *       *       *

They had struck a cave.