The depôt was built during the next day, February 17, Lat. 79° 29' S, and considerably over a ton of stuff was landed.
| lbs. | |
| 245 | 7 weeks' full provision bags for 1 unit |
| 12 | 2 days' provision bags for 1 unit |
| 8 | 8 weeks' tea |
| 31 | 6 weeks' extra butter |
| 176 | lbs. biscuit (7 weeks' full biscuit) |
| 85 | 8-1/2 gallons oil (12 weeks' oil for 1 unit) |
| 850 | 5 sacks of oats |
| 424 | 4 bales of fodder |
| 250 | Tank of dog biscuit |
| 100 | 2 cases of biscuit |
| 2181 | |
| 1 skein white line | |
| 1 set breast harness | |
| 2 12 ft. sledges | |
| 2 pair ski, 1 pair ski sticks | |
| 1 Minimum Thermometer[1] | |
| 1 tin Rowntree cocoa | |
| 1 tin matches | |
[Footnote 1: See [page 337].]
Sorry as Scott was not to reach 80°, he was satisfied that they had 'a good leg up' for next year, and could at least feed the ponies thoroughly up to this point. In addition to a flagstaff and black flag, One Ton Camp was marked with piled biscuit boxes to act as reflectors, and tea-tins were tied on the top of the sledges, which were planted upright in the snow. The depôt cairn was more than six feet above the surface, and so the party had the satisfaction of knowing that it could scarcely fail to show up for many miles.
CHAPTER III
PERILS
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...Yet I argue not Against Heaven's hand or will, nor bate a jot Of heart or hope; but still bear up and steer Right onward. MILTON. |
On the return journey Scott, Wilson, Meares and Cherry-Garrard went back at top speed with the dog teams, leaving Bowers, Oates and Gran to follow with the ponies. For three days excellent marches were made, the dogs pulling splendidly, and anxious as Scott was to get back to Safety Camp and find out what had happened to the other parties and the ponies, he was more than satisfied with the daily records. But on Tuesday, February 21, a check came in their rapid journey, a check, moreover, which might have been a most serious disaster.
The light though good when they started about 10 P.M. on Monday night quickly became so bad that but little of the surface could be seen, and the dogs began to show signs of fatigue. About an hour and a half after the start they came upon mistily outlined pressure ridges and were running by the sledges when, as the teams were trotting side by side, the middle dogs of the teams driven by Scott and Meares began to disappear. 'We turned,' Cherry-Garrard says, 'and saw their dogs disappearing one after another, like dogs going down a hole after a rat.'