278 To the Pole [igi2

but when 100 miles from their goal and with 800
more to go, a slight mishap may have far-reach-
ing consequences. The party as a whole, though
fit and sound, were for some unexplainable reason
beginning to feel the cold, though the temperatures
were not yet really low, and Gates more than the
rest of them. There were probably climatic reasons
for this—£ some damp quality' in the air perhaps;
but further, those cruelly severe marches up the
lower reaches of the Beardmore had tried them
more than they knew. And the surfaces were
getting worse—loose * sandy ' snow, and * bearded'
sastrugi. * It's going to be a stiff pull both ways
apparently,' Scott wrote; and again, * It takes it
out of us like anything. None of us ever had such
hard work before.'

Wilson's Journal maintains the same equable
level—neither minimizing nor magnifying the diffi-
culties : his eyes are on the sky, noting the shape
and colours of the clouds, or on the surface <3f the
wind-swept snow, crested with ice-crystals, which
he sketches : the sastrugi and sandy drifts make
the going difficult sometimes.

On the 16th, Bowers'' sharp eyes' detected a black
speck ahead. Wilson's account is as follows :—

Jan. 16. We got away at 8 a.m. and made 7-5 miles
by 1.15, lunched, and then in 5*3 miles came on a black
flag and the Norwegian's sledge, ski and dog-tracks run-
ning about N.E. and S.W. both ways. The flag was^ of
black bunting tied with string to a fore and after which
had evidently been taken off a finished-up sledge. The
age of the tracks was hard to guess—but probably a
couple of weeks—or three or more—the flag was fairly
well frayed at the edges. We camped here and examined
the tracks and discussed things. The surface was fairly