526 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 



accelerated first by the shock of his frost-bitten fingers, and 

 later by falls during rough travelling on the glacier, further 

 by his loss of all confidence in himself. Wilson thinks it 

 certain he must have injured his brain by a fall. It is a 

 terrible thing to lose a companion in this way, but calm 

 reflection shows that there could not have been a better 

 ending to the terrible anxieties of the past week. Discus- 

 sion of the situation at lunch yesterday shows us what a 

 desperate pass we were in with a sick man on our hands at 

 such a distance from home." x 



1 Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 573. 



