474 Arctic and Antarctic Exploration [part ii 
as the summer temperature is - 40 0 the cold of the winter 
may be imagined. The little party of three resolutely 
pushed on to the westward until November 30th. They 
had gone for 200 miles over the ice-cap, and could see 
nothing beyond but a further expanse of the terrible 
plateau. Yet, "After all," writes Scott, 
''it is not what we see that inspires awe, but the knowledge of what 
lies beyond our view. We see only a few miles of ruffled snow bounded 
by a vague wavy horizon, but we know that beyond that horizon are 
hundreds and even thousands of miles which offer no change to the 
weary eye... nothing but this terrible limitless expanse of snow. 
It has been so for countless ages and it will be so for countless more. 
...Could anything be more terrible than this silent wind-swept 
immensity?" 
On December 1st the little party turned their steps 
homewards. Day by day they struggled on over rough 
snow ridges in thick weather. On the 15th all were 
precipitated down a steep slope for 200 ft., finding them- 
selves sore and bruised at the bottom, and near the upper 
entrance of the glacier. It was a month since Scott had 
seen any known landmark. They started again, Scott in 
the middle and a little in front, Lashly on his right, and 
Evans on his left. They had been going for a quarter 
of an hour when Scott and Evans suddenly disappeared 
down a crevasse. Almost by a miracle Lashly saved 
himself from following, and sprang back with his whole 
weight on the trace. The sledge rushed past him and 
jumped the crevasse down which Scott and Evans had 
gone. The two who had fallen were dangling at the ends 
of their traces with blue walls of ice on each side and a 
fathomless abyss below. Scott struggled on to a thin 
shaft of ice wedged between the walls of the chasm, 
guiding Evans's feet to the same support. The great 
danger was that the intense cold would soon render them 
powerless. There was no time to lose, and Scott by a 
desperate effort managed to swarm up the trace and 
flung himself on the snow. With the united efforts of 
Scott and Lashly Evans was also landed on the surface. 
Both were terribly frost-bitten. On the same evening 
they reached their nunatak depot and next day, by a 
long march, arrived at the main depot. There were no 
further troubles, and the three reached the ship on the 
23rd December. 
