Part 27 (2/2)
That announcement tells its own story, and it would be impertinent to guess at the feelings of those intrepid travelers when they found themselves forestalled. Nevertheless they had achieved the purpose they had set themselves, and the fact that they could not claim the reward of priority makes not one jot of difference in estimating the honours that belong to them.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PARTY AT THE SOUTH POLE. (Capt. Oates; Capt.
Scott; P.O. Evans; Lieut. Bowers; Dr. Wilson.) _Photo by Lieut.
H. R. Bowers._]
[Page 383]
'Well,' Scott continued, 'it is something to have got here, and the wind may be our friend to-morrow.... Now for the run home and a desperate struggle. I wonder if we can do it.'
On the following morning after summing up all their observations, they came to the conclusion that they were one mile beyond the Pole and three miles to the right of it, in which direction, more or less, Bowers could see a tent or cairn. A march of two miles from their camp took them to the tent, in which they found a record of five Norwegians having been there:
'Roald Amundsen Olav Olavson Bjaaland Hilmer Hanssen Sverre H. Ha.s.sel Oscar Wisting.
--16 _Dec_. 1911.
'The tent is fine--a small compact affair supported by a single bamboo. A note from Amundsen, which I keep, asks me to forward a letter to King Haakon!'
In the tent a medley of articles had been left: three half bags of reindeer containing a miscellaneous a.s.sortment of mitts and sleeping-socks, very various in description, a s.e.xtant, a Norwegian artificial horizon and a hypsometer without boiling-point thermometers, a s.e.xtant and hypsometer of English make. 'Left a note to say I had visited the tent with companions. Bowers photographing and Wilson sketching. Since lunch we have marched 6.2 miles S.S.E.
by compa.s.s (i.e. northwards). Sights at lunch gave us 1/2 to 3/4 [Page 384]
of a mile from the Pole, so we call it the Pole Camp. (Temp. Lunch -21.) We built a cairn, put up our poor slighted Union Jack, and photographed ourselves--mighty cold work all of it--less than 1/2 a mile south we saw stuck up an old underrunner of a sledge. This we commandeered as a yard for a floorcloth sail. I imagine it was intended to mark the exact spot of the Pole as near as the Norwegians could fix it. (Height 9,500.) A note attached talked of the tent as being 2 miles from the Pole. Wilson keeps the note. There is no doubt that our predecessors have made thoroughly sure of their mark and fully carried out their program. I think the Pole is about 9,500 feet in height; this is remarkable, considering that in Lat.
88 we were about 10,500.
'We carried the Union Jack about 3/4 of a mile north with us and left it on a piece of stick as near as we could fix it. I fancy the Norwegians arrived at the Pole on the 15th Dec. and left on the 17th, ahead of a date quoted by me in London as ideal, viz.
Dec. 22.... Well, we have turned our back now on the goal of our ambition and must face our 800 miles of solid dragging--and good-bye to most of the day-dreams!'
[Page 385]
CHAPTER X
ON THE HOMEWARD JOURNEY
It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll; I am the master of my fate, I am the Captain of my soul.--HENLEY.
During the afternoon of Thursday, January 18, they left the Pole 7 miles behind them, and early in the march on the following morning picked up their outward tracks and a Norwegian cairn. These tracks they followed until they came to the black flag that had been the first means of telling them of the Norwegians' success. 'We have picked this flag up, using the staff for our sail, and are now camped about 1-1/2 miles further back on our tracks. So that is the last of the Norwegians for the present.'
In spite of a surface that was absolutely spoilt by crystals they marched 18-1/2 miles on the Friday, and also easily found the cairns that they had built; but until they reached Three Degree Depot which was still 150 miles away, anxiety, Scott said, could not be laid to rest.
On the next day they reached their Southern [Page 386]
Depot and picked up four days' food. With the wind behind them and with full sail they went along at a splendid rate in the afternoon, until they were pulled up by a surface on which drifting snow was lying in heaps; and then, with the snow clinging to the ski, pulling became terribly distressing. 'I shall be very glad when Bowers gets his ski,' Scott wrote at R. 3,[1] 'I'm afraid he must find these long marches very trying with short legs, but he is an undefeated little sportsman. I think Oates is feeling the cold and fatigue more than most of us. It is blowing pretty hard to-night, but with a good march we have earned one good hoosh and are very comfortable in the tent. It is everything now to keep up a good marching pace; I trust we shall be able to do so and catch the s.h.i.+p. Total march, 18-1/2 miles.'
[Footnote 1: A number preceded by R. marks the camps on the return journey.]
A stiff blizzard with thick snow awaited them on the Sunday morning, but the weather cleared after mid-day, and they struggled on for a few very weary hours. At night they had 6 days' food in hand and 45 miles between them and their next depot, where they had left 7 days' food to take them on the go miles to the Three Degree Depot. 'Once there we ought to be safe, but we ought to have a day or two in hand on arrival and may have difficulty with following the tracks. However, if we can get a rating sight for our watches to-morrow we should be independent of the tracks at a pinch.'
January 22 brought an added worry in the fact [Page 387]
that the ski boots were beginning to show signs of wear, but this was nothing compared with the anxiety Scott began to feel about Evans on the following day. 'There is no doubt that Evans is a good deal run down--his fingers are badly blistered and his nose is rather seriously congested with frequent frost-bites. He is very much annoyed with himself, which is not a good sign. I think Wilson, Bowers and I are as fit as possible under the circ.u.mstances.
Oates gets cold feet.... We are only about 13 miles from our ”Degree and half” Depot and should get there tomorrow. The weather seems to be breaking up. Pray G.o.d we have something of a track to follow to the Three Degree Depot--once we pick that up we ought to be right.'
Another blizzard attacked them at mid-day on the morrow, and so, though only seven miles from their depot, they were obliged to camp, for it was impossible to see the tracks. With the prospect of bad weather and scant food on the tremendous summit journey in front of them, and with Oates and Evans suffering badly from frost-bites, Scott had to admit that the situation was going from bad to worse. But on the next afternoon, they managed to reach the Half Degree Depot, and left with 9-1/2 days' provision to carry them the next 89 miles.
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