THE POLAR JOURNEY 319 



Imperturbable as ever ; never hasty, never angry, but 

 soothing that vicious animal, and determined to get the 

 best out of most unpromising material in his endeavour 

 to do his simple duty. 



"Bowers was last to leave. His pony, Victor, nervous 

 but not vicious, was soon in the traces. I ran to the end of 

 the Cape and watched the little cavalcade — already strung 

 out into remote units — rapidly fade into the lonely white 

 waste to southward. 



"That evening I had a chat with Wilson over the 

 telephone from the Discovery Hut — my last communica- 

 tion with those five gallant spirits." * 



All the ponies arrived at Hut Point by 4 p.m., just in 

 time to escape a stiff blow. Three of them were housed 

 with ourselves inside the hut, the rest being put into the 

 verandah. The march showed that with their loads the 

 speed of the different ponies varied to such an extent that 

 individuals were soon separated by miles. " It reminded 

 me of a regatta or a somewhat disorganized fleet with 

 ships of very unequal speed." 2 



It was decided to change to night marching, and the 

 following evening we proceeded in the following order, 

 which was the way of our going for the present. The three 

 slowest ponies started first, namely, Jehu with Atkinson, 

 Chinaman with Wright, James Pigg with Keohane. This 

 party was known as the Baltic Fleet. 



Two hours later Scott's party followed; Scott with 

 Snippets, Wilson with Nobby, and myself with Michael. 



Both these parties camped for lunch in the middle of 

 the night's march. After another hour the remaining four 

 men set to work to get Christopher into his sledge ; when 

 he was started they harnessed in their own ponies as 

 quickly as possible and followed, making a non-stop run 

 right through the night's march. It was bad for men 

 and ponies, but it was impossible to camp in the middle 

 of the march owing to Christopher. The composition 

 of this party was, Oates with Christopher, Bowers 



1 Taylor, with Scott, The Silver Lining, pp. 325-326. 

 2 Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 44.8. 



