HARDEST DAYS 



into most dangerous crevasses and were saved only by 

 our harness. Very tired indeed. Thank God warm and 

 fine weather. We can see our depot rock in the dis- 

 tance, so hope to reach it to-morrow. Turning in now, 

 11 p.m.; breakfast as usual 5 a.m. The temperature is 

 plus 12° Fahr.. 



January 26 and 27. — Two days written up as one, 

 and they have been the hardest and most trying we have 

 ever spent in our lives, and will ever stand in our mem- 

 ories. To-night (the 27th) we have had our first solid 

 food since the morning of the 26th. We came to the 

 end of all our provisions except a little cocoa and tea, 

 and from 7 a.m. on the 26th till 2 p.m. on the 27th we 

 did 16 miles over the worst surfaces and most dangerous 

 crevasses we have ever encountered, only stopping for 

 tea or cocoa till they were finished, and marching twenty 

 hours at a stretch, through snow 10 to 18 in. thick as a 

 rule, with sometimes 2y 2 ft. of it. We fell into hidden 

 crevasses time after time, and were saved by each other 

 and by our harness. In fact, only an all-merciful Provi- 

 dence has guided our steps to to-night's safety at our 

 depot. I cannot describe adequately the mental and 

 physical strain of the last forty-eight hours. When we 

 started at 7 a.m. yesterday, we immediately got into soft 

 snow, an uphill pull with hidden crevasses. The bis- 

 cuit was all finished, and with only one pannikin of 

 hoosh, mostly pony maize, and one of tea, we marched 

 till noon. Then we had one pannikin of tea and one 

 ounce of chocolate, and marched till 4.45 p.m. We had 

 one pannikin of tea. There was no more food. We 

 marched till 10 p.m., then one small pannikin of cocoa. 

 Marched till 2 a.m., when we were played out. We had 

 one pannikin of cocoa, and slept till 8 a.m. Then a 

 pannikin of cocoa, and we marched till 1 p.m. and camped, 

 about half a mile from the depot. Marshall went on 



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