ages in this five-man party than you might
think. There was 51/2 weeks' food for four men: five men would eat this in
about four weeks. In addition to the extra risk of breakdown, there was
a certain amount of discomfort involved, for everything was arranged for
four men as I have already explained; the tent was a four-man tent, and
an inner lining had been lashed to the bamboos making it smaller still:
when stretched out for the night the sleeping-bags of the two outside men
must have been partly off the floor-cloth, and probably on the snow:
their bags must have been touching the inner tent and collecting the rime
which was formed there: cooking for five took about half an hour longer
in the day than cooking for four--half an hour off your sleep, or half an
hour off your march? I do not believe that five men on the lid of a
crevasse are as safe as four. Wilson writes that the stow of the sledge
with five sleeping-bags was pretty high: this makes it top-heavy and
liable to capsize in rough country.

But what would have paralysed anybody except Bowers was the fact that
they had only four pairs of ski between the five of them. To slog along
on foot, in soft snow, in the middle of four men pulling rhythmically on
ski, must have been tiring and even painful; and Birdie's legs were very
short. No steady swing for him, and little chance of getting his mind off
the job in hand. Scott could never have meant to take on five men when he
told his supporting team to leave their ski behind, only four days before
he reorganized.

"May I be there!" wrote Wilson of the men chosen to travel the ice-cap to
the Pole. "About this time next year may I be there or thereabouts! With
so many young bloods in the heyday of youth and strength beyond my own I
feel there will be a most difficult task in making choice towards the
end." "I should like to have Bill to hold my hand when we get to the
Pole," said Scott.

Wilson _was_ there and his diary is that of an artist, watching the
clouds and mountains, of a scientist observing ice and rock and snow, of
a doctor, and above all of a man with good judgment. You will understand
that the thing which really interested him in this journey was the
acquisition of knowledge. It is a restrained, and for the most part a
simple, record of facts. There is seldom any comment, and when there is
you feel that, for this very reason, it carries more weight. Just about
this time: "December 24. Very promising, tho