CAPTAIN SCOTT’S OWN STORY. 
r 3 
they appeared astern, raising their snouts 
out ot water. “ I had heard weird stories of 
these beasts/’ writes Scott, “ but had never 
associated serious danger with them. Close 
to the water’s edge lay the wire stern-rope 
of the ship, and our two Eskimo dogs were 
tethered to this. I did not think of connect- 
ing the movements of the whales with this 
fact, and, seeing them so close, I shouted to 
Ponting, who was standing abreast of the ship. 
He seized his camera and ran towards the 
floe-edge to get a close picture of the beasts, 
which had momentarily disappeared. The 
next moment the whole floe under him [and 
the dogs heaved up and split into fragments. 
Whale after whale rose under the ice, setting 
it rocking fiercely. One could hear the 
* booming ’ noise as the whales rose under the 
ice and struck it with their backs. Luckily 
Ponting kept his feet and was able to fly to 
security. By an extraordinary chance also, 
the splits had been made around and between 
the dogs, so that neither of them fell into the 
water. Then it was clear that the whales 
shared our astonishment, for one after 
another their huge, hideous heads shot 
vertically into the air through the cracks 
which they had made. As they reared them 
to a height of six or eight feet [killers run to 
twenty feet long] it was possible to see their 
tawny head-markings, their small, glistening 
eyes, and their terrible array of teeth, by far 
the largest and most terrifying in the world. 
There cannot be a doubt that they looked 
up to see what had happened to Ponting and 
the dogs. The latter were horribly frightened, 
and strained to their chains whining. The 
head of one killer must certainly have been 
within five feet of one of the dogs. 
“ After this, whether they thought the game 
insignificant, or whether they missed Ponting, 
is uncertain ; but the terrifying creatures 
passed on to other hunting.” And it was 
possible to rescue both the dogs, and, almost 
THE MAIN HUT AT CAPE EVANS, WITH MOUNT EREBUS IN THE BACKGROUND. 
HERE THE EXPEDITION SPENT THE WINTER WHILE LAYING OUT DEPOTS TOWARDS THE POLE. 
THE READER WILL NOTE THE SLEDGES AND SKIS PLACED ROUND THE HUT FOR THE NIGHT, 
THIS PHOTOGRAPH WAS TAKEN BY MOONLIGHT. 
