IN WINTER QUARTERS WITH CAPTAIN SCOTT 315 



heard a mysterious tinkle in the corner of the hut. This 

 was Meares ringing up headquarters from the Old Discovery- 

 Hut some fifteen miles south ! He took a roll of bare 

 aluminum wire on the dog sledge, and just unrolled it as he 

 sped off to Hut Point — surely the most primitive and simplest 

 method of telephone-laying extant ! I rang him up and asked 

 him to keep a look-out for my geological hammer, and then 

 proceeded to beat Wright at chess. 



On the 8th I had a very unpleasant experience, largely 

 owing to my own foolhardiness. I obtained permission from 

 Captain Scott to go off to Turk's Head, and said I hoped to 

 be back by 4 p.m. He said, " Well, you must return by 

 dinner-time." It was a fine, clear day ; I had found the 

 bicycle pump, and was keen to make some use of the bicycle. 

 I set off boldly " to the admiration of those engaged in 

 mending the tide gauge. But it went stiffly, even through 

 fairly hard snow, and I realised it was not going to be much 

 of a help. I had to walk half of the first two miles, and 

 seriously thought of leaving the bicycle at east base, but 

 hoped that the surface would improve. It was so hard that 

 my boots hardly sank in the snow, but the wheels cut a two- 

 inch rut, while the freewheel was of the roller type, and 

 slipped when 1 put on extra pressure. I pushed on to 

 Glacier Tongue and had to walk half the eight miles, and 

 found it very tiring." 



The tongue was most interesting. In outline it some- 

 what resembled an Aztec sword, where jagged bits of obsidian 

 are inserted fairly close together along the edge. Here the 

 ice edge consisted of alternate promontories and bays — owing 

 to the sea-water occupying the troughs of the undulating 

 glacier. I thankfully left the bicycle here, and climbed into 

 the tongue. I was very stiff, and had apparently strained 

 my leg with unwonted exercise. 



There seemed to be a very interesting cliff outcrop at the 

 northern root of the tongue, and I decided to visit it. It 

 looked about half a mile off, but the deceptive distances 

 proved my undoing. After a rapid walk of half an hour I 

 only arrived at the outer zone of pressure ice at the head of 

 the bay. I could see that it was an interesting spot — where 

 the glacier capped a rock outcrop — but I dared not go further. 

 So I turned back, and was pretty done up when I reached the 



