CHAPTER FOURTEENBALANCE SHEET
“To what end? What’s the good, who benefits?” asked Don Whelpton, shooting out his rhetorical questions at Macdonald with perfectly good temper. “Climbing Everest, camping at the poles, extending our knowledge of the most barren areas of the world’s surface, the places which make life impossible without aid from all the elaborations of this mechanical era. What good does it do to anybody? I’ve been asked those questions again and again, and it isn’t always easy to find convincing answers if the questioner is an honest humane chap, as he often is.”
“Striking a balance sheet,” said Macdonald, “we all have to do it sometime. While I could supply my own answers to your questions, I should be interested to have your answers. You have spent many years in condition
