The Ely miner., 1929-11-22

midst Of an unutterable desolation.
And by night, with his breath freez-
ing on his lips and his fingers numb
ing inside his mittens, Scott would in
scribe the tally of that days fearsome
toll. Disasters began to multiply, ILL
luck TO dog the footsteps Of the losers.
Thus on January 80. he said:
"Wilson has strained a tendon in his
leg; IL has given pain all day and is
swollen tonight. OF course, he is full
Of pluck over II, but l don't like the
idea of such an accident here. To add
to the trouble, Evans has dislodged
two finger nails tonight from freezing;
his hands are really bad. and TO my
surprise he shows signs of losing heart
over it. He hasn't been cheerful since
the accident"
Their misfortunes multiplied:
Sunday, February IL. The worst
day we have had during the trip and
greatly owing to our own fault. We
started on a wretched surface-hor-
rible light. which made everything look
fantastic. AS we went on, light got
worse-Then came the fatal decision
to steer east We went on for six
hours, hoping to do good distance,
which in fact l suppose we did, but
for the last hour or two we pressed
on into regular trap. Half an hour
after lunch we got in the worst ice
mess I have ever been in. For three
hours we plunged on, on skis.
There were times when ii seemed al
most impossible to find a way out of
the awful turmoil in which we found
ourselves. At length, arguing that
there must be a way on our left, we
plunged in that direction. 1t got
worse, harder, more icy and crevassed.
We could not manage our skis, and
pulled ahead on foot, falling into
crevasses every minute. At length we
saw a smoother slope toward the land,
pushed for it, but knew if was a Woe
fully long way from US. The turmoil
changed in char: cter, irregular crew
assed surface giving way TO huge
chasms, closely packed and most diff
cult to cross 1t was very heavy work
but we had grown desperate. We won
through at 10 p. m. and l write after
twelve hours on the march. think
we are on or about the right track
now, but we are still a good number
of miles from the depot, so we reduced
rations tonight. Pray God the
wind holds tomorrow
In a plight which steadily grew
more critical and more difficult, they
pressed on, constantly contending
with, and almost hourly baffled by.
the incredible obstacles of Antarctic
travel-issures, contrary gales, terri
fic blasts. whirling binding snow fur
ries. And all the while. their small
store of provisions shrank.
A Trying Position.
On February 16, the first of that in
domitabIe group to collapse got a page
in the records. Of this catastrophe
Scott wrote:
"a rather trying position. Evans
has nearly broken down in brain, we
think. He is absolutely changed from
his normal self-reliant self This
morning and this afternoon be stopped
the march on some trivial excuse. =.
Perhaps all will be we'll if we can get
to our depot tomorrow fairly early,
but it is anxious work with the sick
man. But it's no use meeting troubles
half way, and our sleep is all too short
to write more.
Saturday, February II. A very ter
rible day. Evans looked a little bet
ter after a good sleep and declared.
as he always did, that he was quite
well. He started in his place on the
traces. but half an hour later worked
his ski shoes adrift and had TO leave
the sledge. We stopped after
about one hour, and Evans came up
again very slowly. Half an hour later
he dropped ont again on the same
plea. We had to push on. and
the remainder of US were forced TO
pull very hard. After lunch. and Ev-
ans still not appearing, we looked out,
to see him still afar off. BY this time
we were alarmed. and all four start
ed back. was first To reach the poor
man and shocked at his appearance;
he was on his knees with clothing dis
arranged, hands uncovered and frost
bitten, and a wild look in his eyes. We
got him on his feet. but after two or
three steps he sank down again. He
showed every sign Of complete col