We simply couldn't go hungry at this time."
"_Tuesday, March 6. Lunch._ We did a little better with help of wind
yesterday afternoon, finishing 91/2 miles for the day, and 27 miles from
depot. But this morning things have been awful. It was warm in the night
and for the first time during the journey I overslept myself by more than
an hour; then we were slow with foot-gear; then, pulling with all our
might (for our lives) we could scarcely advance at rate of a mile an
hour; then it grew thick and three times we had to get out of harness to
search for tracks. The result is something less than 31/2 miles for the
forenoon. The sun is shining now and the wind gone. Poor Oates is unable
to pull, sits on the sledge when we are track-searching--he is
wonderfully plucky, as his feet must be giving him great pain. He makes
no complaint, but his spirits only come up in spurts now, and he grows
more silent in the tent. We are making a spirit lamp to try and replace
the primus when our oil is exhausted..."
"_Wednesday, March 7._ A little worse, I fear. One of Oates' feet _very_
bad this morning; he is wonderfully brave. We still talk of what we will
do together at home.
"We only made 61/2 miles yesterday. This morning in 41/2 hours we did just
over 4 miles. We are 16 from our depot. If we only find the correct
proportion of food there and this surface continues, we may get to the
next depot [Mt.
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