the hardship entailed, although we were fresh men and had not undergone
the severe test of a long season's sledge work. Atkinson could only
manage about nine miles daily, he and Keohane got practically no sleep
owing to the cold, and they turned homeward after depositing a week's
food supply at Corner Camp, in case it could be made use of. Atkinson was
morally certain that the Polar Party had perished by this time, and, as
he states in his record of proceedings ("The last year at Cape Evans,
'Scott's Last Expedition,' Vol. II."), Scott's last diary entry was made
before he and Keohane reached Corner Camp. Atkinson arrived back at Hut
Point on April 1, 1912, utterly worn out, and in great concern on
Campbell's account, for the Northern party were known to be somewhere on
the coast. He could do nothing without assistance from Cape Evans, and he
awaited, therefore, the opportunity of reaching the base station as we
all had done when stranded at Hut Point twelve months previously. On
April 10, leaving Cherry-Garrard to tend the dogs, Atkinson, Keohane, and
Dimitri made their way to Cape Evans via the Castle Rock, Glacier Tongue
route, as described in the earlier part of this narrative, but, as it
happens, under almost unparalleled conditions, for they sailed over the
ice, riding on their sledge, such was the excellence of the sea-ice
surface.

The indefatigable Atkinson called the members together to discuss plans
and decide as to future relief work. The idea of making a farther journey
on to the Ice Barrier to succour Scott was rejected as useless--for there
was no hope whatever for the Southern party, and Atkinson himself knew
what the Barrier travelling was like. There was, however, a chance of
relieving Campbell and his five companions, known to have been set ashore
in the neighbourhood of Terra Nova Bay, and with this end in view,
Atkinson, Wright, Keohane, Williamson, Gran, and Dimitri set off on April
13.