lives to this
enterprise, which is for the honour of our country, I appeal to our
countrymen to see that those who depend on us are properly cared for.

Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood,
endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the
heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must
tell the tale, but surely, surely a great rich country like ours will see
that those who are dependent on us are properly provided for.--R.
SCOTT.[348]

[Illustration: THE POLAR JOURNEY--Apsley Cherry-Garrard, del. Emery
Walker Ltd., Collotypers.]

FOOTNOTES:

[341] Wilson.

[342] _Scott's Last Expedition_, vol. i. pp. 575-576.

[343] Ibid. p. 577.

[344] Wilson.

[345] See note at end of Chapter XIV.

[346] _Scott's Last Expedition_, vol. i. pp. 582, 583.

[347] _Scott's Last Expedition_, vol. i. pp. 584-599.

[348] _Scott's Last Expedition_, vol. i. pp. 605-607.

CHAPTER XIX

NEVER AGAIN

And now in age I bud again,
After so many deaths I live and write;
I once more smell the dew and rain,
And relish versing. O my onely light,
It cannot be
That I am he
On whom thy tempests fell all night.
HERBERT.

I shall inevitably be asked for a word of mature judgment of the
expedition of a kind that was impossible when we were all close up to it,
and when I was a subaltern of 24, not incapable of judging my elders, but
too young to have found out whether my judgment was worth anything. I now
see very plainly that though we achieved a first-rate tragedy, which will
never be forgotten just because it was a tragedy, tragedy was not our
business. In the broad perspective opened up by ten years' distance, I
see not one journey to the Pole, but two, in startling contrast one to
another. On the one hand, Amundsen going straight there, getting there
first, and returning without the loss of a single man, and without having
put any greater strain on himself and his men than was all in the day's
work of polar exploration. Nothing more business-like could be imagined.
On the other hand, our expedition, running appalling risks, performing
prodigies of superhuman endurance, achieving immortal renown,
commemorated in august cathedral sermons and by public statues, yet
reaching the Pole only to find our terrible journey superfluous, and
leaving our