THE POLAR JOURNEY 401 



sprang up and we were able to set sail, which helped us put 

 in a good march. 



\6th February 19 12. 



To-day it have been a very heavy drag all day, and the 

 light is very bad, but we had the pleasure of seeing Castle 

 Rock and Observation Hill. We uncovered Mr. Evans to 

 let him have a look and we have reduced our ration now 

 to one half as it is impossible for us to reach Hut Point 

 under four days, that is if everything goes favourable 

 with us. 



ijtk February 19 12. 



To-day it has been thick, this morning soon after we 

 started we saw what we thought was the dog tent [the two 

 dog-teams going out to meet the Polar Party], a thing we 

 had been looking for to try and get relief, but when we 

 came up to it we found it was only a piece of biscuit box 

 stuck on an old camp for a guide. It shows how deceiving 

 the things here are. I can tell you our hopes were raised, 

 but on reaching it they dropped again considerably. We 

 were able to see the land occasionally, and during one of 

 the breaks this afternoon we spotted the motor. Oh, what 

 joy ! We again uncovered Mr. Evans to let him have a 

 look and after trudging along for another three hours we 

 brought up alongside it and camped for the night. We are 

 now only a little over 30 miles from Hut Point : if we could 

 only see the dogs approaching us, but they, we think, may 

 have passed us while the weather have been thick. Mr. 

 Evans is getting worse every day, we are almost afraid to 

 sleep at night as he seems very weak. If the temperature 

 goes much lower it will be a job to keep him warm. We 

 have found some biscuits here at the motor but nothing 

 else, but that will assist greatly on our way. The slogging 

 have been heavy all day. We are pretty tired to-night. I 

 dont think we have got the go in us we had, but we must 

 try and push on. 



l%tk February 19 12. 



I started to move Mr. Evans this morning, but he com- 

 pletely collapsed and fainted away. Crean was very upset 

 and almost cried, but I told him it was no good to create a 



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