But only for a short time; the engines had been
going astern all the time and presently a slight movement became
apparent. But we only knew she was getting clear when we heard cheers on
board, and more cheers from the whaler.
"Then she gathered stern way and was clear. The relief was
enormous."[115]
All this took some time, and Scott himself came back into the hut with us
and went on bagging provisions for the Depot journey. At such times of
real disaster he was a very philosophical man. We were not yet ready to
go sledging, but on January 23 the ice in North Bay all went out, and
that in South Bay began to follow it. Because this was our road to the
Barrier, it was suddenly decided that we must start on the Depot journey
the following day or perhaps not at all. Already it was impossible to get
sledges south off the Cape: but there was a way to walk the ponies along
the land until they could be scrambled down a steep rubbly slope on to
sea-ice which still remained. Would it float away before we got there? It
was touch and go. "One breathes a prayer that the Road holds for the few
remaining hours. It goes in one place between a berg in open water and a
large pool of the Glacier face--it may be weak in that part, and at any
moment the narrow isthmus may break away. We are doing it on a very
narrow margin.
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