4 
FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 
For the life of me he would not look the least kingly 
or move on an inch. Just when I was desperate with 
efforts to work through the distractions of the Summer 
Session, came my friend Bruce — an old resident in the 
Hall — saying, * I 'm off to the Antarctic as naturalist and 
surgeon on the Dundee Antarctic Expedition- — will you 
come ? ' And I said ( Yes.' 
Five minutes after coming to this decision*, a hundred 
and one unanswerable arguments occurred to me in favour 
of it. I remembered how it had always been my intention 
to see the polar regions ; how, even in nursery days, when 
we listened to Fast in the Ice, I had vowed to bring home 
white bear-skins to the gentle reader. Such a chance as 
this might never occur again, I argued, and it is right to 
see the wonders of the world abroad before one grows 
old ; besides, the frieze would undoubtedly benefit greatly 
by being laid aside for a time. 
Bruce told me he had heard ther^ was a berth to be 
had on the Balsena, the vessel he was going on, so we 
straightway wrote to the shipping agent to engage it, and 
waited as patiently as possible for the answer. 
Great was my disgust, after waiting for several days, 
to hear that there was no berth, not even one foot of 
spare room on any of the ships, and that therefore the 
Company could not possibly take a passenger. The situa- 
tion was distinctly unpleasant : half of my acquaintances 
had heard of my intention of going south, and, if I did 
not go, there was the horrible prospect of meeting people 
for months to come who would make continual inquiries 
as to when I intended to start for the North Pole. 
