i 9 ii] THE WANDERER RETURNS 343 
to it. The fact that he did not, but attempted to wander 
straight on, is clear evidence of the mental condition 
caused by that situation. There can be no doubt that 
in a blizzard a man has not only to safeguard the circula- 
tion in his limbs, but must struggle with a sluggishness 
of brain and an absence of reasoning power which is far 
more likely to undo him. 
In fact Atkinson has really no very clear idea of what 
happened to him after he missed the Cape. He seems to 
have wandered aimlessly up wind till he hit an island ; 
he walked all round this ; says he couldn't see a yard at 
this time ; fell often into the tide crack ; finally stopped 
under the lee of some rocks ; here got his hand frost- 
bitten owing to difficulty of getting frozen mit on again, 
finally got it on ; started to dig a hole to wait in. Saw 
something of the moon and left the island ; lost the moon 
and wanted to go back ; could find nothing ; finally 
stumbled on another island, perhaps the same one ; waited 
again, again saw the moon, now clearing ; shaped some 
sort of course by it — then saw flare on Cape and came on 
rapidly — says he shouted to someone on Cape quite close 
to him, greatly surprised not to get an answer. It is a 
rambling tale to-night and a half-thawed brain. It is 
impossible to listen to such a tale without appreciating 
that it has been a close escape or that there would have 
been no escape had the blizzard continued. The thought 
that it would return after a short lull was amongst the 
worst with me during the hours of waiting. 
2 a.m. — The search parties have returned and all is 
well again, but we must have no more of these very 
