who on the return from the Pole in March, 1912, willingly walked to his death in a blizzard to try and save his comrades beset by hardship.
Only eleven miles from food and shelter, the blizzard held the others imprisoned, and there they died. Their bodies and records were recovered on November 12 by a relief expedition from Cape Evans. Dr. Edward A. Wilson, chief of the scientific staff of the expedition, and Lieutenant H. R. Bowers, had died with Captain Scott. The burial service was read over the graves of the dead, and a cairn and a cross with their names was erected.
Captain Scott’s last message, written at the door of death on March 25, 1912, shows the calm and uncomplaining heroism of the man, especially one passage:
“For my own sake I do not regret this journey, which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another, and meet death with as great fortitude as ever in the past. We took risks. We knew we took them. Things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint; but bow to the will of Providence, determined still to do our best to the last.”
Simple typographical errors were corrected; punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mentor: The Conquest of the Poles, Serial No. 37, by Robert E. Peary