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And to Mrs. Bowers: "I write when we are very near the end of our journey, and I am finishing in company of two gallant, noble gentlemen. One of these is your son. He has come to be one of my closest and soundest friends, and I appreciate his wonderful upright nature, his ability and energy. As the troubles have thickened his dauntless spirit ever shone brighter and he has remained cheerful, hopeful and indomitable to the end."
If this were disaster, then it was also triumph. Time may never again produce men of such breed as this, or exploration such an epic. If they failed to add the South Pole to the domains of Britain, they have left behind for others of their race imperishable inspiration. A tall cross bearing their names stands on an Arctic peak near where they sleep. And on it is inscribed also this noble tribute: "To Strive, to Seek, to Find, and not to Yield."
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