242 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 
let the liquid matter out, the relief was very great. Every 
night after that I treated such others as were ready in the 
same way until they gradually disappeared. Sometimes it 
was difficult not to howl. 
I did want to howl many times every hour of these days 
and nights, but I invented a formula instead, which I re- 
peated to myself continually. Especially, 1 remember, it 
came in useful when at the end of the march with my feet 
frost-bitten, my heart beating slowly, my vitality at its 
lowest ebb, my body solid with cold, I used to seize the 
shovel and go on digging snow on to the tent skirting 
while the cook inside was trying to light the primus. 
“You’ve got it in the neck—stick 1t—stick it—you’ve got 
it in the neck,” was the refrain, and I wanted every little 
bit of encouragement it would give me: then I would find 
myself repeating “* Stick it—stick it—stick it—stick it,” 
and then “ You’ve got it in the neck.”’ One of the joys 
of summer sledging is that you can let your mind wander 
thousands of miles away for weeks and weeks. Oates used 
to provision his little yacht (there was a pickled herring he 
was going to have): I invented the compactest little re- 
volving bookcase which was going to hold not books, but 
pemmican and chocolate and biscuit and cocoa and sugar, 
and have a cooker on the top, and was going to stand 
always ready to quench my hunger when | got home: and 
we visited restaurants and theatres and grouse moors, and 
we thought of a pretty girl, or girls, and . . . But now 
that was all impossible. Our conditions forced themselves 
upon us without pause: it was not possible to think of 
anything else. We got no respite. I found it best to refuse 
to let myself think of the past or the future—to live only 
for the job of the moment, and to compel myself to think 
only how to do it most efficiently. Once you let yourself 
wmaging:|s jar 
This day also (July 1) we were harassed by a nasty — 
little wind which blew in our faces. ‘The temperature was _ 
—66°, and in such temperatures the effect of even the 
lightest airs is blighting, and immediately freezes any ex- 
posed part. But we all fitted the bits of wind-proof lined 
