C APT AIM SCOTT'S OWN STORY. 
45 
halts, shelter walls were built for them, but. 
on November 3rd, for a happy exeeption, 
“ there is no wind, and the sun gets warmer 
every minute. 7 ’ 
At this stage the party slept the day through 
till 1 p.m., then fed. ‘‘It is a sweltering day, 
the air breathless, the glare intense. One 
loses sight of the fact that the temperature 
is low ( - 22 0 ) ; one’s mind seeks com- 
parison in hot sunlit streets and scorching 
pavements. Yet six hours ago my thumb 
was frost-bitten. All the inconvenience of 
frozen footwear and damp clothes and sleeping- 
bags have vanished entirely.” 
Lunch at midnight, however, is not pleasing* 
“ But for man the march that follows is 
pleasant when, as to-day (November 3rd), 
the wind falls and the sun steadily increases 
its heat.” 
The Motors Break Down. 
These halcyon times for body and mind did 
not last. The motors, four or five days ahead, 
had left cheering messages on abandoned 
follow. Some four miles out we met a tin 
pathetically inscribed, * Big end Day’s motor 
No. 2 cylinder broken.’ Half a mile beyond, 
as 1 expected, we found the motor, its tracking 
sledges and all. Notes from Evans and Day 
told the tale. The only spare big end had 
been used for Lashley’s machine, and it would 
have taken a long time to strip Day’s engine 
so that it could run on three cylinders. They 
had decided to abandon it and push on with the 
other alone. They had taken the six bags of 
forage and some odds and ends, besides their 
petrol and lubricant. So the dream of great 
help from the machines is at an end ! The 
track of the remaining motor goes steadily 
forward ; but now, of course, 1 shall expect 
to see it every hour of the march.” 
On November £>th these forebodings were 
fulfilled. 
“ There are three black dots to the South 
which we can only imagine is the deserted 
motor with its loaded sledges. The men have 
gone on as a supporting party as directed.” 
Jt was even so. Thcv reached the aban- 
DAY AND LASHLEY GETTING A MOTOR READY. 
petrol tins. In that found on November 4th 
Day wrote, “ Hope to meet in 8o° 30' (Lat.).” 
“ Poor chap,” is the comment in the diary, 
“ within two miles he must have had to sing 
a different tale. It appears they had a bad 
ground on the morning of the 29th. I suppose 
the surface was bad and everything seemed 
to be going wrong. They ‘ dumped ’ a good 
deal of petrol and lubricant. Worse was to 
cloned motor next day (the 6th), and found a 
note stating “ a recurrence of the old trouble. 
The big end of No. 1 cylinder had cracked, 
the machine otherwise in good order. Evi- 
dently the engines are not fitted for working 
in this climate, a fact that should be certainly 
capable of correction. One thing is proved 
— the system of propulsion is altogether 
satisfactory.” 
(To be continued.) 
