SLEDGE TRACKS 149 



for there was five miles of water between us and the hut. So 

 we deviated with what speed we might to the south, gradually 

 veering in the teeth of a young blizzard.' 



In the morning we could see frost smoke rising from the 

 water apparently for miles right across our track. In place of 

 reaching the hut in one day we evidently had a long detour 

 to make to get around the open water. We called this place 

 1 Camp Had Again ' for obvious reasons, and started off, after 

 digging out the sledges and tent, once more directly away from 

 our objective. 



We pulled six miles south before lunch, leaving Hut Point 

 behind us on the left. The end of the great bay seemed in 

 sight now and I felt justified in bearing east a little. We were 

 only half a mile from the water when we came on sledge tracks, 

 and these puzzled us greatly. We thought they must have been 

 made by a depot party but could see no depot. I wrote ' It is 

 not possible it has gone out, as undoubtedly some of the Barrier 

 has?' 



As a matter of fact these were the tracks of the rescue party 

 who had tried to save the ponies when Bowers, Cherry-Garrard, 

 and Crean went adrift only ten days before. In view of our 

 experiences the next few days I was glad we did not know of this 

 disaster. 



A strong drift was blowing when we broke camp, but we 

 could see the sun and had bearings, so we moved round the 

 open water to the north. After two miles we saw something 

 black which turned out to be a fodder depot. We built it 

 up, for it was nearly invisible, and left a note for the Depot 

 Party, which was waste labour, for they had all returned a week 

 before. 



The wind increased in force, but we kept on till noon, when 

 we came to open water and a great crack in the Barrier. Here 

 the surface rose several feet quite sharply and Wright nearly 

 slipped in as we were crossing. The drift was getting very 

 much worse and we could see nothing a few yards ahead. I felt 

 this was a bad position and turned inland; we pulled about three- 

 quarters of an hour and could not get any farther through the 

 blinding snow. We managed to pitch the tent and then sat down 

 to wait till the blizzard would let us move somewhere less ex- 

 citing and farther from the breaking edge of the Barrier. Here, 



