448 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [November 
from Anton behind. Poor little Anton found it difficult 
to keep the pace with short legs. 
Snatcher soon led the party and covered the distance 
in four hours. Evans said he could see no difference at 
the end from the start— the little animal simply romped 
in. Bones and Christopher arrived almost equally fresh, 
in fact the latter had been bucking and kicking the whole 
way. For the present there is no end to his devilment, 
and the great consideration is how to safeguard Oates. 
Some quiet ponies should always be near him, a difficult 
matter to arrange with such varying rates of walking. A 
little later I came up to a batch, Bowers, Wilson, Cherry, 
and Wright, and was happy to see Chinaman going very 
strong. He is not fast, but very steady, and I think 
should go a long way. 
Victor and Michael forged ahead again, and the 
remaining three of us came in after taking a little under 
five hours to cover the distance. 
We were none too soon, as the weather had been 
steadily getting worse, and soon after our arrival it was 
blowing a gale. 
Thursday, November 2.— Hut Point. The march 
teaches a good deal as to the paces of the ponies. It 
reminded me of a regatta or a somewhat disorganised 
fleet with ships of very unequal speed. The plan of 
further advance has now been evolved. We shall start 
in three parties— the very slow ponies, the medium paced, 
and the fliers. Snatcher starting last will probably 
overtake the leading unit. All this requires a good deal 
of arranging. We have decided to begin night marching, 
