198 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION 



accidents of importance.' Also that they had not been able to 

 communicate with Cape Evans until a week before, and had been 

 unloading stores every available moment before they came over 

 to search for us. And then the world's news at first hearing made 

 us feel safer in the Antarctic. The disruption of China, the 

 Franco-German-English trouble in Morocco, the Italians and 

 Turks in Tripoli, and the great strikes in England. We had 

 missed an eventful year during our sojourn in the peaceful re- 

 gions of the South. 



It was no easy business reaching the ship. The sea ice was 

 rapidly breaking up, and moving off to the northward in great 

 rectangular fragments. Finally the ship butted a cake of floe 

 towards the fixed ice and held it there long enough to get the 

 sledge over. 



Once on board we made a dive for our mail. A pillow case 

 full for each of us, and all home news satisfactory. 



We had been picked up just a month later than the date fixed 

 by Captain Scott. We were now only a few hours' sail from 

 Cape Evans, and looked forward to a change and the comforts 

 of the hut. But the blizzard we had been watching caught us 

 and was succeeded by many others, and not for ten days did we 

 get near the hut. In fact, during the ensuing three weeks there 

 were only three hours in which we could get into touch with 

 headquarters, before we turned our faces to the north. 



So ends my narrative. During the six months that we had 

 spent sledging we had mapped a hundred miles of coast and 

 hinterland, our detailed surveys extending in places over thirty 

 miles from the sea. Our general scientific results are briefly de- 

 scribed in the final chapters of the book. All our collections were 

 safely brought back to England in the Terra Nova in 1913. 



What is the best personal result of our sledge journeys? A 

 group of friends who are closer than brothers. Here's luck to 

 my mates to Debenham, Wright, and Gran ! 



GRIFFITH TAYLOR. 



