498 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 



addition to the extra risk of breakdown, there was a certain 

 amount of discomfort involved, for everything was arranged 

 for four men as I have already explained ; the tent was a 

 four-man tent, and an inner lining had been lashed to the 

 bamboos making it smaller still : when stretched out for 

 the night the sleeping-bags of the two outside men must 

 have been partly off the floor-cloth, and probably on the 

 snow : their bags must have been touching the inner tent 

 and collecting the rime which was formed there : cooking 

 for five took about half an hour longer in the day than 

 cooking for four — half an hour off your sleep, or half an 

 hour off your march ? I do not believe that five men on 

 the lid of a crevasse are as safe as four. Wilson writes that 

 the stow of the sledge with five sleeping-bags was pretty 

 high : this makes it top-heavy and liable to capsize in rough 

 country. 



But what would have paralysed anybody except Bowers 

 was the fact that they had only four pairs of ski between the 

 five of them. To slog along on foot, in soft snow, in the 

 middle of four men pulling rhythmically on ski, must have 

 been tiring and even painful ; and Birdie's legs were very 

 short. No steady swing for him, and little chance of get- 

 ting his mind off the job in hand. Scott could never have 

 meant to take on five men when he told his supporting 

 team to leave their ski behind, only four days before he 

 reorganized. 



"May I be there !" wrote Wilson of the men chosen 

 to travel the ice-cap to the Pole. "About this time next 

 vear may I be there or thereabouts ! With so many young 

 bloods in the heyday of youth and strength beyond my 

 own I feel there will be a most difficult task in making 

 choice towards the end." " I should like to have Bill to 

 hold my hand when we get to the Pole," said Scott. 



Wilson was there and his diary is that of an artist, 

 watching the clouds and mountains, of a scientist observ- 

 ing ice and rock and snow, of a doctor, and above all of a 

 man with good judgment. You will understand that the 

 thing which really interested him in this journey was the ac- 

 quisition of knowledge. It is a restrained, and for the most 



