d been to the Pole, and both items of news seemed to be of no
importance whatever. There was a letter there from Amundsen to King
Haakon. There were the personal chatty little notes we had left for them
on the Beardmore--how much more important to us than all the royal
letters in the world.

We dug down the bamboo which had brought us to this place. It led to the
sledge, many feet down, and had been rigged there as a mast. And on the
sledge were some more odds and ends--a piece of paper from the biscuit
box: Bowers' meteorological log: and the geological specimens, thirty
pounds of them, all of the first importance. Drifted over also were the
harnesses, ski and ski-sticks.

Hour after hour, so it seemed to me, Atkinson sat in our tent and read.
The finder was to read the diary and then it was to be brought
home--these were Scott's instructions written on the cover. But Atkinson
said he was only going to read sufficient to know what had happened--and
after that they were brought home unopened and unread. When he had the
outline we all gathered together and he read to us the Message to the
Public, and the account of Oates' death, which Scott had expressly wished
to be known.

We never moved them. We took the bamboos of the tent away, and the tent
itself covered them. And over them we built the cairn.

I do not know how long we were there, but when all was finished, and the
chapter of Corinthians had been read, it was midnight of some day. The
sun was dipping low above the Pole, the Barrier was almost in shadow. And
the sky was blazing--sheets and sheets of iridescent clouds. The cairn
and Cross stood dark against a glory of burnished gold.

* * * * *

_Copy of Note left at the Cairn, over the Bodies_

_November 12th, 1912._
Lat. 79 deg. 50' S.

This Cross and Cairn are erected over the bodies of Capt. Scott,
C.V.O., R.N.; Dr. E. A. Wilson, M.B., B.A. Cantab.; Lt. H. R.
Bowers, Royal Indian Marines. A slight token to perpetuate their
gallant and successful attempt to reach the Pole. This they did
on the 17th January 1912 after the Norwegian expedition had
already done so. Inclement weather and lack of fuel was the cause
of their death.

Also to commemorate their two gallant comrades, Capt. L. E. G.
Oates of the Inniskilling Dragoons, who walked to his death in a
blizzard to save his comrades, about 18 miles south of this