CHAPTER XIV 



THE LAST WINTER 



V 



Ordinary people snuggle up to God as a lost leveret in a freezing 

 wilderness might snuggle up to a Siberian tiger. . . . — H. G. Wells. 



A quite disproportionately small part of Scott's Last Expe- 

 dition was given to Atkinson's account of the last and worst 

 year any of us survivors spent : some one should have com- 

 pelled him to write, for he will not do so if he can help it. 

 The problems which presented themselves were unique in 

 the history of Arctic travel, the weather conditions which 

 had to be faced during this last winter were such as had 

 never been met in McMurdo Sound ! The sledging per- 

 sonnel had lately undergone journeys, in one case no less 

 than four journeys, of major importance, until they were 

 absolutely worn out. The successful issue of the party 

 was a triumph of good management and good fellowship. 

 The saving clause was that as regards hut, food, heat, 

 clothing and the domestic life generally we were splendidly 

 found. To the north of us, some hundreds of miles away, 



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