196 
SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION 
(March 
a pony, but the others meanwhile, a little overwrought, 
tried to leap Punch across a gap. The poor beast fell in ; 
eventually we had to kill him — it was awful. I recalled 
all hands and pointed out my road. Bowers and Oates 
went out on it with a sledge and worked their way to the 
remaining ponies, and started back with them on the same 
track. Meanwhile Cherry and I dug a road at the Barrier 
edge. We saved one pony ; for a time I thought we should 
get both, but Bowers' poor animal slipped at a jump and 
plunged into the water : we dragged him out on some 
brash ice — killer whales all about us in an intense state of 
excitement. The poor animal couldn't rise, and the only 
merciful thing was to kill it. These incidents were too 
terrible. 
At 5 p.m. we sadly broke our temporary camp 
and marched back to the one I had first pitched. Even 
here it seemed unsafe, so I walked nearly two miles to 
discover cracks : I could find none, and we turned in 
about midnight. 
So here we are ready to start our sad journey to Hut 
Point. Everything out of joint with the loss of the ponies, 
but mercifully with all the party alive and well. 
Saturday, March 4, a.m. — We had a terrible pull at the 
start yesterday, taking four hours to cover some three 
miles to march on the line between Safety Camp and Fodder 
Depot. From there Bowers went to Safety Camp and 
found my notes to Evans had been taken. We dragged 
on after lunch to the place where my tent had been pitched 
when Wilson first met me and where we had left our ski 
and other loads. All these had gone. We found sledge 
