128 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 
and who had disappeared leaving no record. Nor was the. 
report from the Terra Nova here, so we judged that the — 
missing men and the report must be at Hut Point. After 
three or four hours’ sleep, and a cup of tea and a biscuit, 
we started man-hauling with cooker and sleeping-bags: the — 
former because we were to have our good meal at the hut, 
the latter in case we were hung up. Travelling over the sea- 
ice as far as the Gap, from which we saw that the open sea | 
reached to Hut Point, we made our way into the hut, and 
there was a mystery. The accumulations of ice which we 
found in it were dug away: there was a notice outside 
dated February 8 saying, “‘ mail for Captain Scott is in bag 
inside south door.”” We hunted everywhere, but there was 
no Atkinson nor Crean, nor mail, nor the things which the 
ship was to have brought. All kinds of wild theories were 
advanced. By the presence of a fresh onion and some bread 
it was clear that the ship’s party had been there, but the 
rest was utterly vague. It was then suggested that we were 
expected back about this time, and that the missing men 
had been sledging to Safety Camp round Cape Armitage 
on the very shaky sea-ice while we passed them as we came 
through the Gap. Sledge tracks were found leading on to 
the sea-ice: we started back in doubt. Scott was terribly 
anxious, we were all tired, and the depot never seemed to 
come nearer. It was not until we were some two hundred 
yards from it that we saw the extra tent. “Thank God!” 
I heard Scott mutter under his breath, and “I believe you 
were even more anxious than I was, Bill.” 
Atkinson had the ship’s mail, signed by Campbell. 
“Every incident of the day,”’ Scott wrote, “‘ pales before the 
startling contents of the mail-bag which Atkinson gave me 
—a letter from Campbell setting out his doings and the 
finding of Amundsen established in the Bay of Whales.” 
Strongly as Scott tries to word this, it quite fails to con- 
vey how he felt, and how we all felt more or less, in spite 
of the warning conveyed in the telegram from Madeira 
to Melbourne. For an hour or so we were furiously 
angry, and were possessed with an insane sense that we 
must go straight to the Bay of Whales and have it out with 
