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[00:05.16]Chapter 7 Motor Sledges and Mountains
[00:11.90]Scott had two motor sledges now．
[00:15.32]They were the first motor sledges in the Antarctic-the first on earth．
[00:21.76]On October 24th,
[00:24.00]the motor sledges started south from Cape Evans．
[00:28.54]Four men went with them,
[00:31.31]but Scott stayed at Cape Evans for another week．
[00:36.68]Oates was unhappy．
[00:40.05]He wrote to his mother：We had a very bad winter here．
[00:46.44]I don't like Scott．
[00:49.27]We were here all winter,
[00:51.62]but he didn't learn to ski,or to drive dogs．
[00:56.24]Our equipment is bad,
[00:59.24]and he doesn't think about other people．
[01:02.63]I'm going to sleep in his tent on the journey,
[01:07.45]but I don't want to．
[01:12.25]On November lst Scott and Oates
[01:15.77]and six more men left Cape Evans
[01:18.95]with eight sledges and eight ponies．
[01:23.31]The ponies walked slowly
[01:25.20]because their feet went down into the snow．
[01:29.33]It was hard work for them and they got tired very quickly．
[01:34.91]They travelled thirteen or fourteen kilometres in a day．
[01:41.08]Behind the ponies came Meares with one sledge and some dogs．
[01:47.88]Meares knew how to drive dogs．
[01:51.06]Every day,Meares started two hours after the ponies,
[01:56.87]and arrived two hours before them．
[02:02.75]After five days,they found the motor sledges．
[02:09.09]The Norwegians began again on October 20th．
[02:14.84]There were five men this time-
[02:17.96]Amundsen,Bjaaland,Wisting,Hassel,and Hanssen．
[02:26.35]They had four sledges,and forty-eight dogs．
[02:32.30]There was a lot of wind and fog．
[02:36.00]On the first day,Wisting's sledge suddenly stopped,
[02:41.30]and the back went down．
[02:44.03]'Come on,you dogs!'he said angrily．
[02:48.70]'Pull!Pull!'At first nothing happened；
[02:54.28]then,slowly,the sledge moved again．
[02:59.71]Wisting looked down,over the side of the sledge．
[03:03.94]Under the snow,there was a fifty metre hole．
[03:09.12]'Did you see that?'Amundsen said．
[03:13.37]'The ice wants to eat us -
[03:15.65]men,dogs,sledges,everything．'
[03:21.96]On the fourth day they reached the depot at 80°South．
[03:27.79]There was a bad snowstorm,
[03:29.96]but they found the flags easily．
[03:34.08]Next day the men stayed in their tents,
[03:37.49]and the dogs played in their holes under the snow．
[03:41.70]They were all happy．
[03:43.82]They had a lot of food,
[03:45.48]they had good equipment,
[03:47.05]and they were warm．
[03:48.72]They could travel fast．
[03:52.74]Next morning,the snowstorm stopped,
[03:56.19]and the journey began again．
[03:59.39]Today,everything is wonderful,
[04:03.50]Bjaaland wrote in his diary．
[04:06.49]But where is Scott?
[04:08.81]In front of us,or behind?
[04:14.81]There was no one with the motor sledges；
[04:18.10]they were broken．
[04:20.10]Scott looked at them angrily．
[04:23.91]'It doesn't matter,'he said．
[04:27.22]'Teddy Evans and his men are in front of us．
[04:30.27]They're good men-they're pulling their sledges themselves．
[04:35.04]We can get to the Pole on foot．'
[04:40.02]Oates looked at Meares．
[04:42.91]Oates and the ponies were tired,
[04:45.43]but Meares and his dogs were not．
[04:48.37]The snow was home for them．
[04:51.73]That night,Oates wrote：
[04:54.72]Three motor sledges at￡1,000 each,19 ponies at ￡5 each,
[05:03.17]32 dogs at ￡1．50 each．
[05:08.19]Well,it's not my money,it's Scott's．
[05:13.84]On November 21st,
[05:16.24]one of the ponies died．
[05:20.74]On November 11th,
[05:22.36]the Norwegians saw the mountains．
[05:26.18]The mountains were very high-
[05:28.34]some of the highest on earth．
[05:31.77]Bjaaland smiled．
[05:34.11]'There is good skiing up there,Roald,'he said．
[05:37.88]'But can dogs get up there too?'
[05:40.97]'Of course they can,'Amundsen said．'Come on．'
[05:46.80]They left Hanssen with the dogs,
[05:49.14]and skied a little way up the mountains．
[05:52.33]It was difficult,but the mountains were big and beautiful．
[05:58.26]Behind the mountains,
[05:59.78]Amundsen thought there was a high plateau of ice．
[06:04.36]'That's it,'Amundsen said．
[06:07.57]'That's the road to the Pole．
[06:10.60]Tomorrow,we can bring the dogs and sledges up here．
[06:15.22]But now,let's have a ski race．
[06:19.23]Who can get back to camp first?'
[06:22.73]They laughed,and skied happily down the white snow．
[06:27.69]'This is like home,'Bjaaland thought．
[06:31.31]'But it's bigger than Norway,and better．'
[06:35.62]In the next four days,
[06:38.67]the dogs pulled the sledges eighty-one kilometres,
[06:42.26]and went up 3,000 metres．At last,
[06:47.89]Amundsen and Bjaaland stood on the plateau behind the mountains．
[06:53.06]They were tired,happy men．
[06:57.12]Bjaaland looked back at the mountains．
[07:00.91]'Can a motor sledge get up here?'he asked．
[07:05.53]Amundsen smiled．'No,'he said．
[07:10.35]'I don't think so．
[07:12.59]And Scott doesn't like dogs．
[07:15.49]So his men are going to pull their sledges
[07:18.49]up these mountains themselves．
[07:21.59]Would you like to do that,Olav?'
[07:24.93]Bjaaland didn't answer．He smiled,
[07:28.77]and skied happily away across the snow．