the man: he was getting every inch out of the miles,
every ounce out of his companions. Also he was in a hurry, he always was.
That blizzard which had delayed him just before the Gateway, and the
resulting surfaces which had delayed him in the lower reaches of the
glacier! One can feel the averages running through his brain: so many
miles to-day: so many more to-morrow. When shall we come to an end of
this pressure? Can we go straight or must we go more west? And then the
great undulating waves with troughs eight miles wide, and the buried
mountains, causing whirlpools in the ice--how immense, and how annoying.
The monotonous march: the necessity to keep the mind concentrated to
steer amongst disturbances: the relief of a steady plod when the
disturbances cease for a time: then more pressure and more crevasses.
Always slog on, slog on. Always a fraction of a mile more.... On December
30 he writes, "We have caught up Shackleton's dates."[249]

They made wonderful marches, averaging nearly fifteen statute miles (13
geog.) a day for the whole-day marches until the Second Return Party
turned back on January 4. Scott writes on December 26, "It seems
astonishing to be disappointed with a march of 15 (statute) miles when I
had contemplated doing little more than 10 with full loads."[250]

The Last Returning Party came back with the news that Scott must reach
the Pole with the greatest ease. This seemed almost a certainty: and yet
it was, as we know now, a false impression. Scott's plans were based on
Shackleton's averages over the same country. The blizzard came and put
him badly behind: but despite this he caught Shackleton up. No doubt the
general idea then was that Scott was going to have a much easier time
than he had expected. We certainly did not realize then, and I do not
think Scott himself had any notion of, the price which had been paid.

Of the three teams of four men each which started from the bottom of the
Beardmore, Scott's team was a very long way the strongest: it was the
team which, with one addition, went to the Pole. Lieutenant Evans' team
had mostly done a lot of man-hauling already: it was hungry and I think a
bit stale. Bowers' team was fresh and managed to keep up for the most
part, but it was very done at the end of the day. Scott's own team went
along with comparative ease. From the top of the glacier two teams went
on during the last fortnight of which we have been speaking. The first of
them was S