Rfivicir of R'Jviews, 1/11/13. 



88: 



CAPTAIN SCOTT'S STORY. 



ACHIEVEMENT, STRUGGLE AND DEATH. 



The final story of Captain Scott's 

 tragic journey is told from his diary 

 in Everybody s Magazine. On January 

 loth Scott wrote: " Only 85 miles from 

 the Pole, but it is going to be a stiff pull 

 both wa\-s." The sledge " rasps and 

 creaks," and they progress at fearful 

 cost to themselves. " None of us ever 

 had such hard work before." The skis 

 were abandoned once, but as the surface 

 improved they went back and recovered 

 them. " Little Bowers is wonderful ; in 

 spite of my protest, he ivoidd take sights 

 after we had camped to-night after 

 marching in the soft snow all day, where 

 we have been comparatively restful on 

 ski." 



THE FIRST SIGN OF AMUNDSEN. 



On January i6th, in the afternoon, 

 " About the second hour of the march. 

 Bowers' sharp eyes detected what he 

 thought was a cairn. He was uneasy 

 about it, but argued it must be a wind- 

 drift. Half an hour later he made out 

 a black speck ahead, no natural snow- 

 feature. Before long, we came up to 

 a black flag tied to a sledge-bearer, near 

 by the remains of a camp, with sledge- 

 rarks and ski-racks going and coming, 

 and the ciear trace of dogs' j^aws -many 

 dogs. This told the whole story : the 

 Norwegians had arrived first. 



" It is a terrible disappointment, and 

 T am very sorr)- for ni)- loval com- 

 panions." 



AT THE POLE. 



They resolved, however, to carry out 

 their plans to continue the march to the 

 Pole, and then hasten home as rapidly 

 as possible. They followed the tracks 

 of the Norwegians' sledge until it went 

 too far to the left. They found the tent 

 left by Amundsen about a mile and a- 

 half from the Pole, with the names of the 

 five who had been there on December 

 i6th, 1911. In the tent they found 

 various mits and other warm things as if 

 the weather had been warmer than anti- 

 cipated. Then they made their own re- 

 cord : — 



We built a caini at the Pole Camp, put 

 up the Union Jack, and photographed our- 

 selve.s — mighty cold work all of it. Less than 

 half a mile south we saw an old under-runner 

 of a sledge stuck up in the snow, and com- 

 mandeered it as a yard for our sail. A note 

 attached talked of the tent as being two 

 miles from the Pole. 



" There is no doubt," wrote Scott, 

 " that our predecessors have made thor- 

 oughly sure of their mark, and fully 

 carried out their programme." 



THE HOMEWARD MARCH. 



The homeward march started on Jan- 

 uary 19th. " It was heavy dragging in 

 spite of the light load and a full sail." 

 The sledge went at a great rate with a 

 following wind, but the snow clung to 

 the ski, ' 'which could only be pushed 

 forward with an effort, and the pulling 

 was really awful." Wild weather was 

 encountered, everything lessened speed, 

 and every delay cut down the margin of 

 safety allowed for between depots. The 

 tracks were repeatedly lost. Had it not 

 been for Bowers' sharp eyes the party 

 would surely have gone astray. Wilson 

 had a torturing bout of snowblindness, 

 Evans' hands were bad, and Scott him- 

 self came an awful "purler" on his 

 shoulder. On February Evans fell and 

 struck his head. This dulled his alert- 

 ness, and his splendid usefulness abated. 

 February nth was "the worst day we 

 have had during the trip." But still 

 more awful soon followed. 



THE DEATH OF EVANS. 



Evans could give little help, and in- 

 \oluntarily delayed the march. On his 

 last day, February 17th, 



I'^vaiis .seamed che(>rful, but twice dropped 

 out of the pulling team, having worked his 

 ski-.shoos adrift, to adju.st them; then lagged 

 l)eliind : so that the rest, after a hard pull, 

 • seeing him a h)ng way asti^rn, camped for 

 lunch," and w.iited for him. But '' after 

 iuiicli, Evan.s still not api)earing. we looked 

 out. to sec him still afar off.'' All four Jiur- 

 rie(lly skied back to him; " he showed every 

 .sign of collapse; and slowly said he thought 

 li^ must have fainted. By the time the 

 sledge was fetched he was unconscious, and 

 he died in the tent soon after midnight." 



