> CHAPTER XIII 



SUSPENSE 



All the past we leave behind ; 

 We debouch upon a newer, mightier world, varied world ; 

 Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labour and the march, 



Pioneers ! O pioneers ! 



We detachments steady throwing, 

 Down the edges, through the passes, up the mountains steep, 

 Conquering, holding, daring, venturing, as we go, the unknown ways, 



Pioneers ! O pioneers ! 



Walt Whitman. 



Let us come back to Cape Evans after the return of the 

 First Supporting Party. 



Hitherto our ways had always been happy : for the most 

 part they had been pleasant. Scott was going to reach the 

 Pole, probably without great difficulty, for when we left 

 him on the edge of the plateau he had only to average 

 seven miles a day to go there on full rations. We ourselves 

 had averaged 14.2 geographical miles a day on our way 

 home to One Ton Depot, and there seemed no reason to 

 suppose that the other two parties would not do likewise, 

 and the food was not only sufficient but abundant if such 

 marches were made. Thus we were content as we wan- 

 dered over the cape, or sat upon some rock warmed by the 

 sun and watched the penguins bathing in the lake which 

 had formed in the sea-ice between us and Inaccessible 

 Island. All round us were the cries of the skua gulls as 

 they squabbled among themselves, and we heard the swish 

 of their wings as they swooped down upon a man who wan- 

 dered too near their nests. Out upon the sea-ice, which was 



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