 Mawson buried Mertz in his sleeping bag under rough @-@ hewn blocks of snow , along with the remaining photographic plates and an explanatory note . Mawson staggered back into the Cape Denison hut a month later , missing the Aurora by a matter of hours ; she had waited for Mertz , Mawson and Ninnis for three weeks until — concerned by the encroaching winter ice — Davis had sailed her out of Commonwealth Bay and back to Australia . 
