384 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 



tell me all he could remember. He was very willing, and 

 added that somewhere or other he had a diary which he 

 had written : perhaps it might be of use ? I asked him 

 to send it me, and was sent some dirty thumbed sheets of 

 paper. And this is what I read : 



yd January 19 12. 



Very heavy going to-day. This will be our last night 

 together, as we are to return to-morrow after going on in 

 the forenoon with the party chosen for the Pole, that is 

 Capt. Scott, Dr. Wilson, Capt. Oates, Lieut. Bowers and 

 Taff Evans. The Captain said he was satisfied we were all 

 in good condition, fit to do the journey, but only so many 

 could go on, so it was his wish Mr. Evans, Crean and my- 

 self should return. He was quite aware we should have a 

 very stiffjob, but we told him we did not mind that, pro- 

 viding he thought they could reach the Pole with the assist- 

 ance we had been able to give them. The first time I have 

 heard we were having mules coming down to assist us next 

 year. I was offering to remain at Hut Point, to be there if 

 any help was needed, but the Captain said it was his and 

 also Capt. Oates' wish if the mules arrived I was to take 

 charge of and look after them until their return ; but if 

 they did not arrive there was no reason why I should not 

 come to Hut Point and wait their return. We had a long 

 talk with the owner [Scott] in our tent about things in 

 general and he seemed pretty confident of success. He 

 seemed a bit afraid of us getting hung up, but as he said 

 we had a splendid navigator, who he was sure he could 

 trust to pull us through. He also thanked us all heartily 

 for the way we had assisted in the Journey and he should 

 be sorry when we parted. We are of course taking the 

 mail, but what a time before we get back to send it. We 

 are nearly as far as Shackleton was on his Journey. I shall 

 not write more to-night, it is too cold. 



\th "January 19 12. 



We accompanied the Pole party for about five miles 

 and everything seemed to be going pretty well and Capt. 

 Scott said they felt confident they could pull the load quite 



