112 NEAREST THE POLE 



the other, and then whichever way it turns out, 

 before the leaves fall I shall be back on Eagle 

 Island again, going over the well-known places 

 with Jo and the children, and listening to the birds, 

 the wind in the trees, and the sound of lapping waves 

 (do such things really exist on this frozen planet?). 



Four good marches were reeled off from cache 

 number two in good weather. Ten years ago I would 

 have called these marches fully fifteen miles each, 

 now I hoped they were at least twelve. In the second 

 march there was considerable young ice which I feared 

 might give the Captain some trouble on his return 

 march. A vigorous wind at any time would cause the 

 big floes on either side of this ice to crumble it up like 

 so much window glass and leave only an irregular rafter 

 or two to show that it ever existed. At one of our 

 camps the night was the most uncomfortable yet. 

 We and everything in the igloo were thickly covered 

 with our frozen breath, and it seemed impossible to 

 make the stove give out heat enough to boil our tea. 

 The thermometer which I carried with me to prevent 

 breaking had a bubble jarred into it by my falling in 

 rough ice and was stubborn to remedy. There was 

 little doubt, however, that our temperature was in 

 the minus sixties. Several leads in these marches 

 gave us some trouble, causing considerable detours 

 and the records of Henson and the Captain in their 

 igloos showed that they had had the same trouble. 



I quote from my Journal: 



March 25//?.— This morning I discarded the light 

 deer-skin coat in which I had travelled thus far for an 



