Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-13
Cheating Death in the Frozen South

realized that Mertz was really LII. Actually he
was already sinking from sheer starvation
Gradually he grew worse Then he collapsed
and further progress was impossible. so Mawson
pitched tent and settled down to nurse him. It
was hopeless from the first. Mertz needed doc
tors, medicine, warmth nouriShing food-and
none of these things was available MawsoR
did what he could, but how little 1t waSi The
end came suddenly. Mertz passed away on the
eighth day after his collapse.
For hours Mawson lay in his sleeping bag In
q state Of exhaustion. His own condition was
now 50 bad that he felt he might also collapse
at any minute. And added to all he was alone
and almost without q crumb Of food In world
Of silence. Few men have ever faced such
catastrophe and lived to tell the tale. No
wonder Mawson decided that there was little
hope Of reaching headquarters. Having decided
that 1t would have been so easy to give in to
lie inside that warm sleeping bag and wait for
the end. But q man without pluck does not go
to the Antarctic, and with every bone aching
Mawson crawled out, wrapped his dead comrade
in his bag, piled blocks of snow over his body
and raised above his tomb q rough cross made
out of two Sledge runners
THIS sad task completed, he set to work on
] the sledge. saving 1t in halves with q pocket
tool. Prom the discarded half he made . mast,
then he cut down the load to the barest neces-
stiles for one man. last look round. the read
ing of the burial service over a second comrade
on that grim journey and he was ready to set
out again.
Before moving he took his position and found
that he was about 100 miles southeast OF
Winter quarters. How short q distance for the
vigorous men who had started out but what q
journey in that bleak land for q cold and
famished man.
On January IL he started upon the long,
lonely trail 1t is hard enough when there are
companions to talk with-the silence Of Nav
sons utter loneliness must have been . night
mare. After travelling for mile his feet became
sore that he had TO stop and examine them.
They were blistered and raw. He bandaged
them and put on six pairs of socks Over these
he placed fur boots and crampons- steel-cut to
give foothold on the ice. Thus Shod and in
constant pain he struggled on day after day as
though in q dream.
He was dreaming of the food he never ex-
pected to taste again when on January IT hS
found himself dangling into space at the end
Of his harness He had fallen down q crevasse.
and above the sledge, which had broken his
fall and kept him in the world. creeping
nearer and nearer the edge of the chasm. Help
less, spinning in space. he waited for the end.
but the sledge stopped. Providence had given
him another chance.
1t was q small chance. considering his weak
condition but he seized it. great effort raised
him to q knot in the rope. To this he chung
while he gathered strength to reach the next
knot. At last he reached the overhanging snow
lid Of the crevasse, into which the rope had
cut, and thought himself safe. But just he
was clambering out further section Of the
snow lid gave way and once more he fell the
full length Of the rope. Exhausted. weak and
chilled. for his hands were bare and pounds of
snow had fallen inside his clothing, he hung
there with q presentiment that all over.
His strength was fast ebbing; only q supreme
effort would save him and in q few minutes 1t
would be too late.
At all events he would do his best and sud-
denly new power seemed to be given to him.
Inch by inch he struggled to the surface and at
last emerged feet first, still holding on to the
rope He painfully worked himself out until his
body was extended at full length on solid snow.
Then, and only then did he dare to relax his
hold on the rope.
For an hour he lay exhausted. wondering
whether he would be strong enough to get going
again. and whether the struggle with death was
worth while after all. Was it better to enjoy
life for few days, sleeping and eating the last
fragments Of provisions, or to plug on again in
hunger with the prospect Of plunging at any
moment into eternity?
Suddenly a great idea occurred to him. He
would construct a ladder from the Alpine rope.
one end of which he would secure to the bow
of the sledge and the other he would carry over
his left shoulder. loosely attached to the sledge
harness Thus if he fell into a crevasse again
it would be easy, even though weakened by
starvation, to scramble out by the ladder pro-
vded the sledge were not also engulfed.
No time was to be lost and as soon as his
strength permitted Mawson struggled to his
feet Day after day he pushed on through the
wilderness Of crevasses. Many times he broke
through the snow lids, but each time he fell
into q crevasse the ladder proved tIumps and
he climbed out without difdcuty On some days
only two or three miles were covered. It was
Rruellnc work