pose--fighting for an idea, as they
call it.

BERNARD SHAW, _Man and Superman._

IV. RETURNING PARTIES

Two Dog Teams (Meares and Dimitri) turned back from the bottom of the
Beardmore Glacier on December 11, 1911. They reached Hut Point on January
4, 1912.

First Supporting Party (Atkinson, Cherry-Garrard, Wright, Keohane) turned
back in lat. 85 deg. 15' on December 22, 1911. They reached Hut Point January
26, 1912.

Last Supporting Party (Lieut. Evans, Lashly, Crean) turned back in lat.
87 deg. 32' on January 4, 1912. They reached Hut Point February 22, 1912.

Of the three teams which started up the Beardmore Glacier the first to
return, a fortnight after starting the Summit Rations, was known as the
First Supporting Party: the second to return, a month after starting the
Summit Rations, was known as the Last Supporting Party. Of the two
dog-teams under Meares, which had already turned homewards at the bottom
of the glacier after having been brought forward farther than had been
intended, I will speak later.[253]

I am going to say very little about the First Return Party, which
consisted of Atkinson, Wright, Keohane and myself. Atkinson was in
command, and before we left Scott told him to bring the dog-teams out to
meet the Polar Party if, as seemed likely, Meares returned home. Atkinson
is a naval surgeon and you will find this party referred to in Lashly's
diary as "the Doctor's."

"It was a sad job saying good-bye. It was thick, snowing and drifting
clouds when we started back after making the depot, and the last we saw
of them as we swung the sledge north was a black dot just disappearing
over the next ridge and a big white pressure wave ahead of them.... Scott
said some nice things when we said good-bye. Anyway he has only to
average seven miles a day to get to the Pole on full rations--it's
practically a cert for him. I do hope he takes Bill and Birdie. The view
over the ice-falls and pressure by the Mill Glacier from the top of the
ice-falls is one of the finest things I have ever seen. Atch is doing us
proud."[254]

No five hundred mile journey down the Beardmore and across the Barrier
can be uneventful, even in midsummer. We had the same dreary drag, the
same thick weather, fears and anxieties which other parties have had. A
touch of the same dysentery and sickness: the same tumbles and crevasses:
the same Christmas comforts, a layer of plum pudding at the bottom of our
cocoa, and some r