THE SEARCH JOURNEY 485 



How the shortage arose is a mystery. And they eleven 

 miles from One Ton and plenty ! 



Titus did not show his foot till about three days before 

 he died. The foot was then a great size, and almost every 

 night it would be frost-bitten again. Then the last day at 

 lunch he said he could go on no more — but they said he 

 must : he wanted them to leave him behind in his bag. 

 That night he turned in, hoping never to wake : but he 

 woke, and then he asked their advice : they said they must 

 all go on together. A thick blizzard was blowing, and he 

 said, after a bit, " Well, I am just going outside, and I may 

 be some time." They searched for him but could not 

 find him. 



They had a terrible time from 8o° 30' on to their last 

 camp. There Bill was very bad, and Birdie and the Owner 

 had to do the camping. 



And then, eleven miles from plenty, they had nine days 

 of blizzard, and that was the end. 



They had a good spread on their tent, and their ski-sticks 

 were standing, but their ski were drifted up on the ground. 



The tent was in excellent condition — only down some 

 of the poles there were some chafes. 



They had been trying a spirit lamp when all the oil was 

 gone. 



At 88° or so they were getting temperatures from 

 - 20 to - 30 . At 8 2°, 10,000 feet lower, it was regu- 

 larly down to - 47 in the night-time, and - 30 during 

 the day: for no explainable reason. 



Bill's and Birdie's feet got bad — the Owner's feet got 

 bad last. 



It is all too horrible — I am almost afraid to go to sleep 

 now. 



November 13. Early morning. We came on just under 

 seven miles with a very cold moist wind hurting our faces 

 all the way. We have left most of the provisions to pick up 

 again. We purpose going on thirteen miles to-morrow and 

 search for Oates' body, and then turn back and get the 

 provisions back to Hut Point and see what can be done 

 over in the west to get up that coast. 



