52 PLAN AND PREPARATIONS 



and I would be ready, fit and well, with an outfit com- 

 plete in every way. 



The plan was to leave the station as early in the 

 spring as possible. If we had set out to capture this 

 record, we must at any cost get there first. Everything 

 must be staked upon this. From the very moment 

 when I had formed the plan, I had made up my mind 

 that our course from the Bay of Whales must be set 

 due south, and follow the same meridian, if possible, 

 right up to the Pole. The effect of this would be that 

 we should traverse an entirely new region, and gain 

 other results besides beating the record. 



I was greatly astonished to hear, on my return from 

 the South, that some people had actually believed we 

 had set our course from the Bay of Whales for Beard- 

 more Glacier Shackleton's route and followed it to 

 the south. Let me hasten to assure them that this idea 

 never for a single instant crossed my mind when I made 

 the plan. Scott had announced that he was going to 

 take Shackleton's route, and that decided the matter. 

 During our long stay at Framheim not one of us ever 

 hinted at the possibility of such a course. Without 

 discussion Scott's route was declared out of bounds. 



No ; due south was our way, and the country would 

 have to be difficult indeed to stop our getting on to the 

 plateau. Our plan was to go south, and not to leave 

 the meridian unless we were forced to do so by insuper- 

 able difficulties. I foresaw, of course, that there would 



