cold wind. 'As a matter of fact, our poor dogs suffered a great
deal from their poorly clothed condition during the next week or
two, and we could do little to help them; but Nature seemed to
realize the mistake, and came quickly to the rescue: the new coats
grew surprisingly fast, and before the winter had really settled
down on us all the animals were again enveloped in their normally
thick woolly covering.

The refusal of the dogs to work on this trip meant that the men
had to do far more than their share, and from the first they had
no chance of carrying out their intentions. Each hour, however,
was an invaluable experience, and when a return was made to the
ship Scott was left with much food for thought. 'In one way or
another each journey had been a failure; we had little or nothing
to show for our labours. The errors were patent; food, clothing,
everything was
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wrong, the whole system was bad. It was clear that there would
have to be a thorough reorganization before the spring, and it
was well to think that before us lay a long winter in which this
might be effected.'

But in a sense even these failures were successful, for everyone
resolved to profit by the mistakes that had been made and the experience
that had been gained, and the successful sledge journeys subsequently
made in the spring were largely due to the failures of the autumn.