d supper and went to sleep. Before turning in we made a
depot of the broken sledge, all rock specimens, clothes and food, so
as to travel light to Cape Evans. I was very anxious to get there as
soon as possible, as I thought there was a chance that there might be
one or two mules or enough dogs to enable me to follow the search
party. It had been a great disappointment for us to have missed them
by a week, as we were all anxious to join in the search."

"November 7.--4 a.m. A lovely morning. After a hasty breakfast we were
off, arriving at Cape Evans at 5 p.m. We found no one at home, but a
letter on the door of the hut gave us all the news and the names of
the lost party. Very soon Debenham and Archer returned, giving us a
most hearty, welcome, and no one can realise what it meant to us to
see new faces and to be home after our long winter.

"Our clothes, letters, etc., had been landed from the ship, and we
were able to read our home letters, which we had only time to glance
at in the ship in February. Archer provided a sumptuous dinner that
night, and we sailed into it in a way that made Debenham hold his
breath. A bath and change of clothes completed the transformation."

CHAPTER XIX

NARRATIVE OF THE "TERRA NOVA"

The second ascent of Mount Erebus was carried out in December, 1912, by a
party under Raymond Priestley, and although it cannot be described in a
little volume like this a really fine scientific journey was made by
Griffith-Taylor, Debenham, Gran, and Petty Officer Forde. They had the
best time of the lot, for they carried out their explorations in blissful
ignorance of the tribulations of Scott, Campbell, Atkinson and myself,
whose stories I have tried to summarise.

For breezy reading and real bright narrative commend me to
Griffith-Taylor. Volume II. of "Scott's Last Expedition" contains the
story of the "Western journeys" as written by him, and they give quite
truly the Silver Lining to the Cloud which formed about the rest of our
Expedition.

For lightheartedness and good fellowship our Australian geologists should
be given first prize. It is of little use writing about distances covered
and dangers overcome in this connection, but if one considers that the
Western Geological Party surveyed, examined, charted, photographed, and
to some extent plodded over a mountainous, heavily glaciated land lying
in an area of the entire acreage of