44^ SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION (October 
I was anxious to sec how the motors started up and 
agreeably surprised to find that neither driver took more 
than 20 to 30 minutes to get his machine going, in spite of 
the difficulties of working a blow lamp in a keen cold 
wind. 
Lashly got away very soon, made a short run of about 
I mile, and then after a short halt to cool, a long non-stop 
for quite 3 miles. The Barrier, five geographical miles 
from Cape Armitagc, now looked very close, but Lashly 
had overdone matters a bit, run out of lubricant and got 
his engine too hot. The next run yielded a little over a 
mile, and he was forced to stop within a few hundred 
yards of the snow slope leading to the Barrier and wait 
for more lubricant, as well as for the heat balance in his 
engine to be restored. 
This motor was going on second gear, and this gives 
a nice easy walking speed, 2A to 3 miles an hour ; it would 
be a splendid rate of progress if it was not necessary to 
halt for cooling. This is the old motor which was used 
in Norway ; the other machine has modified gears.* 
Meanwhile Day had had the usual balancing trouble 
and had dropped to a speck, but towards the end of our 
second run it was evident he had overcome these and 
was coming along at a fine speed. One soon saw that the 
men beside the sledges were running. To make a long 
story short, he stopped to hand over lubricating oil, started 
at a gallop again, and dashed up the slope without a 
* This form of motor traction had been tested on several 
occasions ; in 1908 at Lauteret in the Alps, with Dr. Charcot the 
Polar explorer : in 1909 and again 1910 in Norway. After each trial 
the sledges were brought back and improved. 
