Scott of the Antarctic Page #5

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"Two, I presses the button

with my left thumb.

"And three, I sends home the block

with my right hand.

"And that's how you lose the top

of your bloody thumb."

Keep back! Keep back!

Oh! Brandy!

Brandy! Brandy!

- That's out of date, Titus.

- Brandy.

This is the modern treatment.

No, Uncle Bill! Uncle Bill, stop it!

No, stop it!

No!

'9,000 feet up,

'the Barrier and the glacier behind us.

'It should be level-going now,

all the way to our goal.'

- Goodbye, Atch.

- Goodbye, sir.

- Look out for us in March.

- Right.

With any luck, we'll be back

before the ship has to go.

- I hope I haven't disappointed you.

- No, no, Cherry.

It was a sheer toss-up

whether you or Titus went on from here.

- Was it really?

- Mm.

- Who's going to go on the last lap?

- I don't suppose it's settled yet.

Four out of the eight of us.

We're all hoping.

Ready?

Heave.

- Goodbye, boys.

- Goodbye, Ted.

- Goodbye, boys.

- Goodbye, you fellows.

- Goodbye.

- Goodbye, Atch.

'Eight men with two sledges, man-hauling.'

- This wind!

- Help us on the way back, though.

Hardest decision of the lot, Bill.

And the one where you can't help me.

Can we depot our skis here, sir?

Help lighten our sledge.

Yes, all right.

Leave your lot here.

The return party can pick them up.

Whoever they are.

We'll make our lunch camp here,

let you get ahead a bit.

'Is my team the best?

'Is it?

'Are we all at our best?

'Bill and I? Yes, all right, that's two.

'And Taff Evans, of course.

'Soldier? Soldier too, then. All right.

'Our four.

'Our four.

'What about Teddy's?'

Halt.

Carry on, Bill.

Ready?

Heave.

'The best four men.

'The best... Who are the best four?

Teddy?

'Birdie?

'Lashly?

'Crean?'

Last letters home go tomorrow.

You're too big, both of you.

What the Captain wants

is a middler, about 5' 8".

- And what might you be?

- 5' 8".

Oh!

Here comes the Captain.

Well done, lads. First-class job.

Lashly, Crean.

It's only fair to tell you now

that you'll not be coming on with us.

I'm very sorry indeed.

You've done splendidly

and I shall never forget it.

- Thank you, sir.

- Thank you, sir.

And me, sir?

- You'll be coming on.

- Thank you, sir.

Good for you, Taff.

You're a lucky devil, Taff.

You always were.

Teddy?

Yes, sir?

About tomorrow.

I've given a lot of thought to the matter,

and I've decided

that my four should go on.

I see, sir.

There's one other thing.

I want to take Bowers.

If you can spare him.

- Five, sir?

- Yes.

Right.

And, Teddy?

Sorry.

Thank you, sir.

I'm taking five, Bill.

- Five?

- Yes, you, me, Bowers, Oates

and Taff Evans

as the strongest and biggest.

A scientist, two sailors and a soldier.

What better companions

could a man have, eh?

'Dear Kathleen,

'a last note from a hopeful position.

'I think it's going to be all right.'

- Goodbye, Crean.

- Goodbye, Lashly. Best of luck.

- Goodbye, Lashly.

- Goodbye, sir.

Well, Teddy, we couldn't

have got this far without you.

Thank you, sir, and good luck.

Thanks. See you sometime in March, eh?

Ready?

Heave.

Let's give them a cheer, lads.

- Hurray!

- Hurray!

'Five men with one sledge,

'man-hauling.

'This surface is horrible.

'Crystals like sand.

'Bowers on foot

has the hardest time of it,

'but he's an undefeated little sportsman.'

- Not ready yet, Titus?

- No, not yet.

Latitude 88:
25, sir.

- Farthest south, eh?

- Good-oh.

- Beyond Shackleton at last.

- That's great, sir.

Something the matter with your hand?

Only a cut, sir. It's nothing.

I heals easy.

At least, I do at home.

'Cooking for five takes a seriously

longer time than cooking for four.

'It's an item I had not considered

when reorganising.'

'Can we keep up these marches?

'It's a critical time.

'But we ought to do the trick.'

How far now, sir?

About 27 miles, two good marches.

I'm sorry but my sleeping bag

is not on the sledge.

Halt.

It can't have fallen further back

than our last halt.

May I go, sir?

I'm coming with you.

Can't trust myself to speak, sir.

Well, don't, then, Taff.

'We only had to go back a couple of miles,

'but it cost us two whole hours.'

Can't be more than five miles now, sir.

Sir.

There.

Amundsen.

Look.

Well, I suppose it was meant to be.

They've left their names.

There were five of them, apparently.

And there's a letter

for the King of Norway

with a note asking Captain Scott

to be so kind as to deliver it.

He's forgotten to stamp it.

Birdie, you'd better check the position.

'The Pole.

'Yes, but under very different

circumstances from those expected.

'It's a bitter disappointment,

'and I am very sorry

for my loyal companions.'

Smile, please.

'The wind is blowing hard,

'and there is that curious damp feeling

in the air which chills one to the bone.

'Great God, this is an awful place.'

'January 18th. All the daydreams must go.

'Now for the run home

and a desperate struggle.

'I wonder if we can do it.'

Cherry asked me

to give you this at the Pole.

Well done that man.

Sorry you chaps don't like chocolate.

- Soldier.

- Thank you, sir.

- Bill.

- Thank you.

- Birdie.

- Thank you, sir.

- Evans.

- Thank you, sir.

That hand still bothering you?

Hardly at all now, sir.

Well, lads, only 900 miles to go.

Ready?

Heave.

Ready?

Heave.

This is better, eh?

Birdie?

Your skis must be round here somewhere.

- Keep an eye open for them.

- Aye, aye, sir.

'The wind is playing strange tricks.

'Instead of blowing steadily northward,

as it did when we came,

'it keeps dropping and leaving us

the full weight of the sledge.'

Land-ho!

'I don't like the easy way

Oates and Evans get frostbitten.'

- Sir?

- Mm?

- You know where Teddy turned back.

- Yes. What about it?

According to that note of his,

we've done the same distance

half a day better.

Half a day. Do you hear that, Soldier?

We're half a day better than Teddy.

Good-oh!

A day's march nearer home, Birdie.

A day's march nearer steaks.

Large, thick, juicy, sizzly ones.

Oh, don't.

With mushrooms.

And beer.

And beer?

Beer of course, gallons of it.

Had an awful nightmare

the other night, Birdie.

Dreamt that Simpson's had been burnt down.

Hello, Bill. What have you got this time?

Quite an interesting day.

This hoosh smells good. Yours, Con?

Birdie reckons we've done

half a day's better time than Teddy did.

Good, good.

What are these, Bill?

Sea plants mostly, and some tree fossils.

Good heavens. This must have been

quite a warm spot once upon a time.

And look at this.

Coal, by Jove.

"What's the prospect of trade

between this city and the Antarctic?"

Coal, Evans. Catch.

Ooh!

- What's the matter, man?

- It's nothing, sir.

Quite all right.

Only a bit awkward, that's all.

'I am indeed glad to think

that we've done with the plateau.

'Another week of those conditions might

have had a very bad effect on Evans.'

See your flag anywhere, Birdie?

No sign of it, sir.

We'll try a bit back and to the right.

Evans, off with your harness.

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