five injured, and the
most troublesome surfaces to come. We shall be lucky if we get through
without serious injury. Wilson's leg is better, but might easily get bad
again, and Evans' fingers.... We have managed to get off 17 miles. The
extra food is certainly helping us, but we are getting pretty hungry. The
weather is already a trifle warmer, the altitude lower and only 80 miles
or so to Mount Darwin. It is time we were off the summit.--Pray God
another four days will see us pretty well clear of it. Our bags are
getting very wet and we ought to have more sleep."[328]

They had been spending some time in finding the old tracks. But they had
a good landfall for the depot at the top of the glacier and on February 3
they decided to push on due north, and to worry no more for the present
about tracks and cairns. They did 16 miles that day. Wilson's diary runs:
"Sunny and breezy again. Came down a series of slopes, and finished the
day by going up one. Enormous deep-cut sastrugi and drifts and shiny
egg-shell surface. Wind all S.S.E.ly. To-day at about 11 P.M. we got our
first sight again of mountain peaks on our eastern horizon.... We crossed
the outmost line of crevassed ridge top to-day, the first on our return.

[Illustration: BUCKLEY ISLAND--Where The Fossils Were Found.]

"_February 4._ 18 miles. Clear cloudless blue sky, surface drift. During
forenoon we came down gradual descent including 2 or 3 irregular terrace
slopes, on crest of one of which were a good many crevasses. Southernmost
were just big enough for Scott and Evans to fall in to their waists, and
very deceptively covered up. They ran east and west. Those nearer the
crest were the ordinary broad street-like crevasses, well lidded. In the
afternoon we again came to a crest, before descending, with street
crevasses, and one we crossed had a huge hole where the lid had fallen
in, big enough for a horse and cart to go down. We have a great number of
mountain tops on our right and south of our beam as we go due north now.
We are now camped just below a great crevassed mound, on a mountain top
evidently."

"_February 5._ 18.2 miles. We had a difficult day, getting in amongst a
frightful chaos of broad chasm-like crevasses. We kept too far east and
had to wind in and out amongst them and cross multitudes of bridges.
We then bore west a bit and got on better all the afternoon and got round
a good deal of the upper disturbances of the falls here."

[Scott wrot