Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/460

A partial blizzard sprang up and we set sail; with this help we made good 8 miles during the two hours of light remaining to us.

On March 31, snow was falling heavily and we got under way in a very bad light. Our condition was bad, as owing to the low temperatures we had got no sleep. We made good to the Biscuit Depôt, 15 miles from home, and then proceeded in the dusk for one more mile.

The next day, April 1, with a strong following breeze and a sail to help us, we reached Hut Point after dark. We were both glad to be in and to get some sleep. By this time all hope of the return of the Southern Party had been given up. Cape Evans was separated from us by open water and it was then impossible to get help from that quarter while, for all we knew, Campbell and his party had still not been relieved and were somewhere on the coast. I regarded their relief at this time as being of prime importance. To effect this it was essential to get help from Cape Evans, as at Hut Point we had two sick men and two men who were capable of sledging at that time of the year. We watched the Sound anxiously for any chance of being able to get across the sea ice to Cape Evans. Almost every day it froze over in a thin sheet, only to be swept away by high winds. The temperatures recorded at this time of the year were 10° to 15° lower at Hut Point than they had been in the previous season.

On April 10 the two Bays, one between Glacier Tongue and the Hutton Cliffs on the peninsula and the other between the Glacier Tongue and Cape Evans, having frozen over, I decided to make along the peninsula with