276 



WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING 



Cape ' 



r Rojds ^ 



Sea Ice 



marking an arrow in the snow that I could remember which 

 way safety lay. For the wind had died down, but the thick 

 drift and the benumbing cold made us more and more anxious 

 as no news came in. From 8.30 till 10 p.m. the blizzard was 



blowing again, and we began 

 to feel hopeless. Captain 

 Scott arranged for two sledge 

 parties : one, under Lieu- 

 tenant Evans, went south 

 along- the Glacier cliffs for 

 six miles ; the other, with 

 Seaman Evans, went north to 

 Shackleton's Hut. They 

 carried tents and sleeping 

 bags. Wright went round the 

 cliffs of Inaccessible Island. 

 Ponting and I searched the 

 Cape Barne glacier. We 

 thought he must have fallen 

 into a tide-crack or sprained 

 his ankle, for now the moon 

 began to show a bit, and at 

 1 1 p.m. it was clearing some- 

 what. We could see Day's 

 huge flares on the cape from 

 a distance of several miles. 

 Just as we reached the big 

 cliff of Barne Glacier two 

 rockets went up, and we knew 

 that he was found. We 

 learned that Atkinson was 

 quite dazed, though he had 

 got back entirely unassisted, 

 and had not seen any one 

 until he reached the Cape 

 Evans cliffs and saw Deben- 

 ham above him. His right 

 hand was badly frostbitten, with huge blisters on each finger 

 — just like a condor's crest. 



He had walked off towards Archibald with the blizzard, 

 but halfway there turned back, feeling it foolish to persist. 



B.g 



^AiorbacK Is. 

 Lost in the blizzard, July 4, 191 1, 



