Page:Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 2.djvu/90

We discussed the position, and came to the conclusion that as our oil had now run down to one can only, and as we couldn't afford to spend time trying to fix up an improvised blubber stove in a roofless hut, we ought to return to Cape Evans.

It was disappointing to have seen so very little of the Emperor penguins, but it seemed to me unavoidable, and that we had attempted too difficult an undertaking without light in the winter.

I had also some doubt as to whether our bags were not already in such a state as might make them quite unusable should we meet with really low temperatures again in our journey home.

I therefore decided to start for Hut Point the next day. To this end we sorted out all our gear, and made a depôt in a corner of the stone hut of all that we could usefully leave there for use on a future occasion. This depôt I fixed up finally with Cherry the next morning while Bowers packed up the sledge at our tent. We put rocks on our depôt and the nine-foot sledge, and the pick, with a matchbox containing a note tied to the handle, where it could not be missed. We also fixed up bamboos round the walls to attract attention to the spot.

[Mr. Cherry-Garrard’s account of this episode must be quoted in full:

All that day and night it blew 11, with absolutely no real lull; what the wind was in the gusts we shall never know—it was something appalling. We quite lost count of time, but Sunday morning it was just the same. This was Bill’s birthday.