SUSPENSE 



4i5 



express adequately the admiration he feels for Lashly's care 

 and nursing. 



All that night and the next day the blizzard continued 

 and made a start impossible, and it was not until 3 a.m. 

 on the morning of the 22nd that they could start for 

 Hut Point, Evans being carried in his sleeping-bag on the 

 sledge. Lashly has told how they got home. 



At Cape Evans we knew nothing of these events, which 

 had made reorganization inevitable. It was clear that 

 Atkinson, being the only doctor available, would have to 

 stay with Evans, who was very seriously ill : indeed Atkin- 

 son told me that another day, or at the most two, would 

 have finished him. In fact he says that when he first saw 

 him he thought he must die. It was a considerable sur- 

 prise then when Dimitri with Crean and one dog-team 

 reached Cape Evans about mid-day on February 23 with 

 a note from Atkinson, who said that he thought he had 

 better stay with Lieutenant Evans and that some one else 

 should take out the dogs. He suggested that Wright or 

 myself should take them. This was our first intimation 

 that the dogs had not already gone South. 



Wright and I started for Hut Point by 2 p.m. the same 

 day and on our arrival it was decided by Atkinson that I 

 was to take out the dogs. Owing to the early departure 

 of our meteorologist, Simpson, Wright, who had special 

 qualifications for this important work, was to remain at 

 Cape Evans. Dimitri having rested his dog-team over- 

 night at Cape Evans arrived at Hut Point on the morning 

 of the 24th. 



Now the daily distance which every 4-man party had 

 to average from Hut Point to its turning-point and back 

 to Hut Point, so as to be on full rations all the way, was 

 only 8.4 geographical miles. From Hut Point to the lati- 

 tude in which he was last seen, 87 32' S., Scott had aver- 

 aged more than ten geographical miles a day. 



Taking into consideration the advanced latitude, 87 

 32' S., at which the Second Return Party had left Scott, 

 and the extremely good daily averages these two parties 

 had marched on the plateau up to this point, namely 12.3 



