THE FIRST WINTER 223 
in his stall, or even to have fallen to the ground. Their 
heads were tied on either side to the stanchions of the stall, 
and so if they tried to lie down complications might arise. 
More alarming was the one serious case of illness, pre- 
ceded by a slighter case of a similar nature in another pony. 
Jimmy Pigg had a slight attack of colic in the middle of 
June, but he was feeding all right again during the evening 
of the same day. It was at noon, July 14, that Bones went 
off his feed. This was followed by spasms of acute pain. 
‘Every now and again he attempted to lie down, and 
Oates eventually thought it was wiser to allow him to do 
so. Once down, his head gradually drooped until he lay at 
length, every now and then twitching very horribly with 
the pain, and from time to time raising his head and even 
scrambling to his legs when it grew intense. I don’t think 
I ever realized before how pathetic a horse could be under 
such conditions ; no sound escapes him, his misery can 
only be indicated by those distressing spasms and by dumb 
movement of the head with a patient expression always 
suggestive of appeal.” 1 ‘Towards midnight it seemed 
that we were to lose him, and, apart from other considera- 
tions, we knew that unless we could keep all the surviving 
animals alive the risks of failure in the coming journey 
were much increased. 
“It was shortly after midnight when I [Scott] was told 
that the animal seemed a little easier. At 2.30 I was again 
in the stable and found the improvement had been main- 
‘tained; the horse still lay on its side with outstretched 
head, but the spasms had ceased, its eye looked less dis- 
tressed, and its ears pricked to occasional noises. As I 
stood looking it suddenly raised its head and rose without 
effort to its legs ; then in a moment, as though some bad 
dream had passed, it began to nose at some hay and at its 
neighbour. Within three minutes it had drunk a bucket 
of water and had started to feed.’’? 
The immediate cause of the trouble was indicated by 
‘a small ball of semi-fermented hay covered with mucus 
and containing tape-worms ; so far not very serious, but 
¢ 
1 Scoez’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 352. ANIbiaapsg sae 
