158 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [October 
that in the squalls was so thick one could not see more 
than a few yards. The wind was fair, however, and we 
raced along over the blue ice until we suddenly came to 
a huge crevasse barring our passage. We proceeded 
cautiouslv along its edge to the eastward until we found 
a place where it was snow-bridged, and then leaving 
the sledges with Levick and Browning, the rest of us 
roped up and went across, testing it with our ice-axes as 
we advanced. 
The snow bridge was 175 paces across, and except for 
one place on the weather side it seemed perfectly safe. 
I should like to have stayed and examined it, as from its 
width it had more the appearance of an inlet of the sea 
ending in a wide crevasse, but the gale was rising and 
the drifting snow so thick I thought it best to get the 
sledges across and push on ; the surface was good the 
other side, and with the gale behind us, we raced along, 
trusting to the wind to steer by, as it was impossible to 
see where we were going. , 
The pace was too much for poor Browning, who was | 
very bad again, and we had to camp at 5.30, having done 
about 8*5 miles. Dickason, I am thankful to say, is better 
and was able to pull to-day. 
The wind dropped after supper, leaving us a lovely 
but a very cold evening. 
October 3.— A very cold night, the wind getting up 
again at 3 a.m. and bringing drift. Levick had trouble | 
with his primus and we did not get away till nine a.m. 
Soft snowdrifts made the going very slow and heavy, 
until just before noon, when we got on ice again among 
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