126 
THE STRAND MAGAZINE. 
odour of blubber and blubber-smoke. We have 
grown accustomed to it, but imagine that our- 
selves and our clothes will be given a wide 
berth when we return to Cape Evans/’ 
The time was occupied in various small 
activities — the conveying of more stores to 
Corner Camp, seal-hunting, the manufacture 
of new and improved blubber-stoves, 
geological excursions to the curious volcanic 
rocks on the hills above, investigation of the 
growing ice, often with fish frozen in — one, 
indeed, in the act of swallowing a smaller 
fish — or study of the air-currents over the 
ridge. But it was ill waiting, with so much 
to reorganize, and so much of the transport 
gone, and the dogs suffering from the weather. 
The majority were at last allowed to run loose, 
at the risk of a murder or two : but the 
strongest could not be given such liberty 
without fear of widespread destruction. 
When at last the ice was firm enough for a 
start, Scott and his advance guard took two 
days to reach Cape Evans, being forced to 
camp in a blizzard under one of the islands, 
with some expectation of finding the ice 
break up again under them. So with great 
exertion they reached the station early on 
April 13th, and the next day, Good Friday, is 
marked by the unusual entry, “ Peaceful day,” 
Great was the relief to find how baseless 
were his recent fears lest the storms that had 
raged at Cape Armitage on the depot journey 
should have damaged the new hut at Cape 
Evans ; for, although over a hundred feet 
from the shore, it stood but eleven feet 
above high-water mark, and with such 
abnormal conditions as had led to the loss 
of the ponies and the breaking of Glacier 
Tongue, it might well be that his careful 
calculations had been falsified, and the worst 
might have happened to those left at the base. 
Ali w y as well, but for one item of bad news : the 
death of another pony, nicknamed Hacken- 
schmidt, from his vigorous use of forelegs as 
well as hindlegs when obstreperous ; and it 
was with mingled feelings that the captain 
could look upon the remnant of his teams 
safe in their stable. Hackenschmidt was an 
intractable beast. Now that he was required 
to get into good condition, he had pined away, 
as his keeper, Anton, firmly believed, out of 
“ cussedness,” a fixed determination to do 
no work for the expedition. 
At Main Hut-The Ingenuities of the 
Handy-Men. 
Otherwise the hut was a revelation of per- 
fect arrangement. It had been a sound and 
promising resting-place in the early days when 
Scott left it for his depot-laying trip ; now it 
not only seemed positively luxurious, with the 
possibility of a bath after three months of 
primitive existence, but it possessed charm 
as well as comfort in the fittings set up by 
the various workers in their allotted places. 
There could be no higher symbol of the tri- 
umph of mind over matter than “ Simpson’s 
Corner,” a perfect meteorological station 
established within, so connected with the 
instruments without that in the fiercest 
storms, the most piercing cold, the observer 
could take his records without going outside, 
with danger of frost-bite to himself and 
uncertainty in taking the record. Ther- 
mometer and barometer, wind-gauge, electrical 
instruments, all told their tale at a glance. 
Then came the photographer’s room, another 
triumph. Ponting, trained to be a “handy- 
man ” by much travel, had created his work- 
shop out of such material as he could lay 
hands upon. Tie had in order all the means 
for bringing his beautiful work to perfection, 
calling forth the description of him as “an 
artist in love with his work.” 
Next the science department, and the 
biologists with their microscopes — neatness 
and good carpentry conspicuous in the well- 
finished shelves. Not least remarkable, 
because most unexpected, the mechanical 
genius of Clissold, the excellent cook, who, it 
turned out, had enjoyed a mechanician’s 
training before he took to pots and pans. 
To ensure the proper baking of his bread in 
the none too large oven, he had devised an 
arrangement by which the bread, as it “ rose/’ 
rang an electric bell to warn him. No wonder 
that he came to be regarded as a specialist 
to be consulted in motor ailments. 
The Ponies. 
The stables — now holding ten beasts only 
out of the original nineteen, alas !— gave 
double room to most and space to lie down, 
if necessary, when the floor could have some 
covering to prevent chill. For the time they 
were exercised by riding barebacked over the 
beach ; perhaps a risky proceeding where the 
shore was so strewn with boulders. Demetri, 
who tended them, had enthusiastically 
practised the building of shelters such as 
should be used on the march. All that 
could be done was being done. 
Inspection of one. department after another 
produced a deep impression. “ I was gradu- 
ally brought to realize,” writes Scott, “ what 
an extensive and intricate, but eminently 
