94 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING 



three-toed footprints, alternating with the curves of the con- 

 tinuous serpentine trails. Suddenly it changes into a broad, 

 shallow gutter in the soft snow ! What strange beast has made 

 this ? It is of course due to the penguin. As he ponderously 

 heaves from foot to foot his stiff tail feathers swing in unison. 

 When he is tired of this method of progression he drops on 

 his breast and propels himself by his toe-nails. Hence the 

 broad gutter ! This trail is very like those fossil prints set 

 down to gigantic Plesiosaurians in bygone times. 



Antarctic spoor, January 12, 191 1. 



To our right is a patch of very dark ice with an evil crack 

 leading to a small pool. We skirt this warily, and are not 

 much surprised to hear a sudden plop ! as two or three penguins 

 shoot out of the water and land at our feet, and often right in 

 the way of the sledge. A pony-sledge passes us and then 

 stops — amid our jeers — to breathe the steed, for the ponies are 

 short of wind at this early stage. We hear a steady droning, 

 and the motor rolls by. But we beat across country, while 

 the helmsman is hauling the behemoth on to a new course. 

 The belt is beginning to cramp our muscles, and the steady 

 stab and drag of the ski-sticks at first blister the hands. Soon 

 the welcome bamboo at the camp comes into sight. Snow 

 bridges have been built across the tide-cracks just below the 

 hut. Here the ice rises and falls a couple of feet during the 

 day. We save a little " go " for the last hundred yards, and 

 rush her at the tide-cracks. " Up she rises," and several 

 willing helpers from the hut lend a hand, and so our load 

 pulls up on the belt of snow by the hut. Here Bowers takes 

 charge, and his gang puts the wood near the hut site, the food 

 on another spot, fodder here, and oil in the far corner. Then 

 we run the sledge out of the way to the ice, and if there is no 

 motor returning, pull it back with light loads and rapidly 

 easing muscles to the ship. 



We were returning on Friday evening, somewhat wearied, 



