3 7 ° 
THE STRAND MAGAZINE. 
he thought was a cairn. He 
was uneasy about it, but 
argued it must be a wind- 
drift. Half an hour later he 
made out a black speck ahead,” 
no “ natural snow feature.” 
Before long they came up to 
“ a black flag tied to a sledge- 
bearer, near by the remains of 
a camp.” with “ sledge tracks 
and ski tracks going and 
coming and the clear trace of 
dogs’ paws — many dogs. This 
told the whole story ; the 
Norwegians” had arrived first. 
Scott’s simple comment runs, 
“ It is a terrible disappoint- 
ment., and I am very sorry for 
my loyal companions,” but 
they resolved to carry out their 
plans to the uttermost ; next 
day “ march to the Pole, and 
then hasten home with all the 
speed they could compass” to 
catch the ship. They were 
still descending ; <e certainly the 
Norwegians found an easier 
way up.” 
So, on January 17th, they 
made their “ 69th camp ” at 
“ the Pole.” With a high 
“ head wind and temperature 
- 22 0 ” it had been a particu- 
larly bad day. At night it 
was still blowing hard, and 
there was “ that curious 
damp, cold feeling in the air 
which chills one to the bone in 
no time.” Meanwhile the in- 
defatigable Bowers was “ lay- 
ing himself out to get sights 
in terribly difficult circum- 
stances.” They had “followed 
the Norwegian sledge tracks in 
the morning for some way. 
and in about three miles passed 
two small cairns. Then the 
weather overcast, the tracks 
increasingly drifted up, obvi- 
ously went too far to the 
west ” ; so it was “ decided to 
make straight for the Pole 
according to our owm calcula- 
tions.” Next morning, the 
1 8th, they “ decided, after 
summing up all observations, 
that they were three and a half miles away tion Bowers ” the keen-sighted “ saw a cairn 
from the Pole — one mile beyond it and three or tent.” It turned out to be a “ tent, two 
to the right. More or less in that direc- miles from their camp, and therefore about 
Oa 
Boweks. 
THE FIVE HEROES REACH 
IIIS HISTORIC PICTURE, SHOWING CAPTAIN SCOTT AND II IS FOUR 
OBTAINED THE PHOTOGRAPH BY MEANS OF A STRING 
