THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



and rugged coast — it was quite possible that the Nimrod 

 would miss sighting our depot flags altogether. In 

 the event of the Nimrod not appearing within a few 

 days, it would be necessary to take immediate and 

 strenuous action with a view either to wintering at the 

 spot, or with a view to an attempt to sledge back 

 around the great mountain massifs and over the many 

 steeply crevassed glaciers for over two hundred miles to 

 our winter quarters at Cape Royds. Even now, in 

 the event of some immediate strenuous action being 

 necessary, if the Nimrod were to suddenly appear at some 

 point along the coast, I thought it would be best for 

 Mawson, who was less physically exhausted than 

 myself, to be in charge. He had, throughout the whole 

 journey, shown excellent capacity for leadership, fully 

 justifying the opinion held of him by Lieutenant Shackle- 

 ton when providing in my instructions that in the 

 event of anything happening to myself Mawson was to 

 assume the leadership. When I spoke to him on the 

 subject, he at first demurred, but finally said that he 

 would act for a time, and would think the matter over 

 at his leisure before definitely deciding to become per- 

 manently the leader. I offered to give him authority 

 in writing as leader, but this he declined to receive. 



Meanwhile, the examination of the cliff face on the 

 south-east side of the barranca showed that there was one 

 very difiicult but apparently possible means of ascent. 

 We returned to where we had left Mackay, and then we 

 three dragged the sledge around to the edge of a rather 

 formidable tide-crack, behind which lay the mound of 

 snow up which we hoped to climb; our idea being to 

 unpack our sledge, drag it to the top of this steep 

 mound, and rearing it on end at the top of the mound, 

 use it as a ladder for scaling the overhanging cliff above. 

 Mackay managed to cross the tide-crack, using the 



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