Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/33

suaded the three helpers to return from here. After this we had very little trouble with rough ice, and though the loads (about 250 lbs. each) were heavy enough to make us slow, we had a good surface to go on.

We camped for lunch at 2.30 p.m., having made six and one-third miles from Cape Evans. The double tent was easy to pitch, and we began a routine of brushing down the inside, after removing all the contents, every time we broke camp. This routine we continued the whole way to Cape Crozier, and it made a great difference to the collection of ice on the upper two-thirds of the tent. It was the duty of the cook for the day to see to this, and we were each of us cook for one day in turn. The lower third of the tent skirt lining gradually got more and more iced up by trickles from above during the running of the primus, and nothing short of melting it out would have enabled us to keep it clear of ice. We gave up the brushing-down routine on the journey home from Cape Crozier, for we had to burn oil so sparingly that we tied up the ventilator permanently and kept in all the steam and heat we could, to thaw out our finnesko, which we hung in the roof at night. We were so iced up as to our clothes and sleeping-bags that nothing outside made any difference, and the omission of brushing down saved time in getting off.

After lunch we got away at 4 p.m. and made for what we believed to be Hut Point, but in the dark we got a good deal too close in towards Castle Rock, much more than was necessary. Our pace was slow owing to the weights, but the surface was not bad. It was chiefly