78 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [January 



was thoroughly frightened — all my blandishments failed when 

 he reared and plunged a second time, and I was obliged to let 

 go. He galloped back and the party dejectedly returned. At 

 the camp Evans got hold of the pony, but In a moment It was 

 off again, knocking Evans off his legs. Finally he was captured 

 and led forth once more between Oates and Anton. He re- 

 mained fairly well on the outward journey, but on the homeward 

 grew restive again; Evans, who was now leading him, called 

 for Anton, and both tried to hold him, but to no purpose — he 

 dashed off, upset his load, and came back to camp with the 

 sledge. All these troubles arose after he had made three jour- 

 neys without a hitch and we had come to regard him as a nice, 

 placid, gritty pony. Now I'm afraid it will take a deal of 

 trouble to get him safe again, and we have three very trouble- 

 some beasts instead of two. I have written this in some detail 

 to show the unexpected difficulties that arise with these animals, 

 and the impossibility of knowing exactly where one stands. The 

 majority of our animals seem pretty quiet now, but any one of 

 them may break out in this way if things go awry. There is 

 no doubt that the bumping of the sledges close at the heels of 

 the animals is the root of the evil. 



The weather has the appearance of breaking. We had a 

 strongish northerly breeze at midday with snow and hail storms, 

 and now the wind has turned to the south and the sky is over- 

 cast with threatenlngs of a blizzard. The floe is cracking and 

 pieces may go out — if so the ship will have to get up steam 

 again. The hail at noon made the surface very bad for some 

 hours; the men and dogs felt it most. 



The dogs are going well, but Meares says he thinks that 

 several are suffering from snow blindness. I never knew a dog 

 get it before, but Day says that Shackleton's dogs suffered from 

 it. The post-mortem on last night's death revealed nothing to 

 account for it. Atkinson didn't examine the brain, and wonders 

 if the cause lay there. There Is a certain satisfaction in believing 

 that there is nothing infectious. 



IV ednesday ,J anuary 1 1. — A week here to-day — it seems quite 

 a month, so much has been crammed into a short space of time. 



The threatened blizzard materialised at about four o'clock 

 this morning. The wind Increased to force sLx or seven at the 

 ship, and continued to blow, with drift, throughout the forenoon. 



