SUSPENSE 433 



such men." * They made up the Butter Point Depot, 

 marked it as well as they could in case Campbell should 

 arrive there, and left two weeks' provisions for him. They 

 could do no more. 



They got back to the Eskers that same day and 

 anxiously awaited the twilight of the morning to reveal the 

 state of the new sea-ice which they had crossed on their 

 outward journey. To their joy some of it remained and 

 they started to do the four miles between them and the old 

 sea-ice. For two miles they ran with the sail set : then they 

 had a hard pull, and some Emperor penguins whom they 

 could see led them to suppose that there was open water 

 ahead. But they got through all right, and did ten miles 

 for the day. On Monday 22, "blizzard in morning, so 

 started late, and made for end of Pinnacled Ice. We found 

 our little bay of sea-ice all gone out. Luckily there was a 

 sort of ice-foot around the Pinnacled Ice and we completed 

 seven miles and got through." 2 



Tuesday, April 23. " Atkinson and his party got in 

 about 7 p.m. after a long pull all day in very bad weather. 

 They are just in the state of a party which has been out 

 on a very cold spring journey : clothes and sleeping-bags 

 very wet, sweaters, pyjama coats and so forth full of snow. 

 Atkinson looks quite done up, his cheeks are fallen in and 

 his throat shows thin. Wright is also a good deal done up, 

 and the whole party has evidently had little sleep. They 

 have had a difficult and dangerous trip, and it is a good 

 thing they are in, and they are fortunate to have had no 

 mishaps, for the sea-ice is constantly going out over there, 

 and when they were on it they never knew that they might 

 not find themselves cut off from the shore. Big leads were 

 constantly opening, even in ice over a foot thick and with 

 little wind. But even if the ice had been in I do not believe 

 that they could have gone many days." 3 



That same day the sun appeared for the last time for 

 four months. 



April 28 seemed to be a quite good day when we woke, 



1 Atkinson in Scott's Last Expedition, vol. ii. p. 314. 



2 Atkinson's diary. 3 My own diary. 



2 F 



