stopher
into his sledge; when he was started they harnessed in their own ponies
as quickly as possible and followed, making a non-stop run right through
the night's march. It was bad for men and ponies, but it was impossible
to camp in the middle of the march owing to Christopher. The composition
of this party was, Oates with Christopher, Bowers with Victor, Seaman
Evans with Snatcher, Crean with Bones.

Each of these three parties was self-contained with tent, cooker and
weekly bag, and the times of starting were so planned that the three
parties arrived at the end of the march about the same time.

There was a strong head wind and low drift as we rounded Cape Armitage on
our way to the Barrier and the future. Probably there were few of us who
did not wonder when we should see the old familiar place again.

Scott's party camped at Safety Camp as the Baltic fleet were getting
under weigh again. Soon afterwards Ponting appeared with a dog sledge and
a cinematograph,--how anomalous it seemed--which "was up in time to catch
the flying rearguard which came along in fine form, Snatcher leading and
being stopped every now and again--a wonderful little beast. Christopher
had given the usual trouble when harnessed, but was evidently subdued by
the Barrier Surface. However, it was not thought advisable to halt him,
and so the party fled through in the wake of the advance guard."[183]

Immediately afterwards Scott's party packed up. "Good-bye and good luck,"
from Ponting, a wave of the hand not holding in a frisky pony and we had
left the last link with the hut. "The future is in the lap of the gods; I
can think of nothing left undone to deserve success."[184]

The general scheme was to average 10 miles (11.5 statute) a day from Hut
Point to One Ton Depot with the ponies lightly laden. From One Ton to the
Gateway a daily average of 13 miles (15 statute) was necessary to carry
twenty-four weekly units of food for four men each to the bottom of the
glacier. This was the Barrier Stage of the journey, a distance of 369
miles (425 statute) as actually run on our sledge-meter. The twenty-four
weekly units of food were to carry the Polar Party and two supporting
parties forward to their farthest point, and back again to the bottom of
the Beardmore, where three more units were to be left in a depot.[185]

All went well this first day on the Barrier, and encouraging messages
left on empty petrol drums told us that the motors were goin