THE POLAR JOURNEY 501 



They were up to date in distance, and there was a very 

 good amount of food, probably more than was necessary 

 to see them to the Pole and off the plateau on full rations. 

 Best thought of all, perhaps, the motors with their uncer- 

 tainties, the ponies with their suffering, the glacier with 

 its possibilities of disaster, all were behind : and the two 

 main supporting parties were safely on their way home. 

 Here with him was a fine party, tested and strong, and 

 only 148 miles from the Pole. 



I can see them, working with a business-like air, with 

 no fuss and no unnecessary talk, each man knowing his job 

 and doing it : pitching the tent : finishing the camp work 

 and sitting round on their sleeping-bags while their meal 

 was cooked : warming their hands on their mugs : saving 

 a biscuit to eat when they woke in the night : packing the 

 sledge with a good neat stow : marching with a solid swing 

 — we have seen them do it so often, and they did it jolly 

 well. 



And the conditions did not seem so bad. " To-night it 

 is flat calm ; the sun so warm that in spite of the tempera- 

 ture we can stand about outside in the greatest comfort. 

 It is amusing to stand thus and remember the constant 

 horrors of our situation as they were painted for us : the 

 sun is melting the snow on the ski, etc. The plateau is now 

 very flat, but we are still ascending slowly. The sastrugi 

 are getting more confused, predominant from the S.E. I 

 wonder what is in store for us. At present everything 

 seems to be going with extraordinary smoothness. . . . 

 We feel the cold very little, the great comfort of our situa- 

 tion is the excellent drying effect of the sun. . . . Our food 

 continues to amply satisfy. What luck to have hit on such 

 an excellent ration. We really are an excellently found 

 party ... we lie so very comfortably, warmly clothed in 

 our comfortable bags, within our double-walled tent." 1 



Then something happened. 



While Scott was writing the sentences you have just 

 read, he reached the summit of the plateau and started, 

 ever so slightly, to go downhill. The list of corrected alti- 



1 Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 530-534. 



