hat did it."

FOOTNOTES:

[253] See pp. 382, 383, 410, 412.

[254] My own diary, December 22, 1911.

[255] My own diary.

[256] My own diary.

[257] See p. 412.

[258] See p. 335.

CHAPTER XIII

SUSPENSE

All the past we leave behind;
We debouch upon a newer, mightier world, varied world;
Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labour and the march,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

We detachments steady throwing,
Down the edges, through the passes, up the mountains steep,
Conquering, holding, daring, venturing, as we go, the unknown ways,
Pioneers! O pioneers!

WALT WHITMAN.

Let us come back to Cape Evans after the return of the First Supporting
Party.

Hitherto our ways had always been happy: for the most part they had been
pleasant. Scott was going to reach the Pole, probably without great
difficulty, for when we left him on the edge of the plateau he had only
to average seven miles a day to go there on full rations. We ourselves
had averaged 14.2 geographical miles a day on our way home to One Ton
Depot, and there seemed no reason to suppose that the other two parties
would not do likewise, and the food was not only sufficient but abundant
if such marches were made. Thus we were content as we wandered over the
cape, or sat upon some rock warmed by the sun and watched the penguins
bathing in the lake which had formed in the sea-ice between us and
Inaccessible Island. All round us were the cries of the skua gulls as
they squabbled among themselves, and we heard the swish of their wings as
they swooped down upon a man who wandered too near their nests. Out upon
the sea-ice, which was soggy and dangerous, lay several seal, and the
bubblings and whistlings and gurglings which came from their throats
chimed musically in contrast to the hoarse aak, aak, of the Adelie
penguins: the tide crack was sighing and groaning all the time: it was
very restful after the Barrier silence.

Meanwhile the Terra Nova had been seen in the distance, but the state of
the sea-ice prevented her approach. It was not until February 4 that
communication was opened with her and we got our welcome mails and news
of the world during the last year. We heard that Campbell's party had
been picked up at Cape Adare and landed at Evans Coves. We started
unloading on February 9, and this work was continued until February 14:
there was about three miles of ice between t