his arms. His mind was tired, and he talked or thought coherently no
longer. Towards dawn he dozed.

When he awoke, he was stiff but in better heart, and the kitten slept
warmly and reassuringly inside his jacket. And fear, he found, had gone
from amidst the trees.

He stroked the kitten, and the little creature woke up to excessive
fondness and purring. "You want some milk," said Bert. "That's what you
want. And I could do with a bit of brekker too."

He yawned and stood up, with the kitten on his shoulder, and stared
about him, recalling the circumstances of the previous day, the grey,
immense happenings.

"Mus' do something," he said.

He turned towards the trees, and was presently contemplating the dead
aeronaut again. The kitten he held companionably against his neck.
The body was horrible, but not nearly so horrible as it had been at
twilight, and now the limbs were limper and the gun had slipped to the
ground and lay half hidden in the grass.

"I suppose we ought to bury 'im, Kitty," said Bert, and looked
helplessly at the rocky soil about him. "We got to stay on the island
with 'im."

It was some time before he could turn away and go on towards that
provision shed. "Brekker first," he said, "anyhow," stroking the kitten
on his shoulder. She rubbed his cheek affectionately with her furry
little face and presently nibbled at his ear. "Wan' some milk, eh?" he
said, and turned his back on the dead man as though he mattered nothing.

He was puzzled to find the door of the shed open, though he had closed
and latched it very carefully overnight, and he found also some dirty
plates he had not noticed before on the bench. He discovered that the
hinges of the tin locker were unscrewed and that it could be opened. He
had not observed this overnight.

"Silly of me!" said Bert. "'Ere I was puzzlin' and whackin' away at the
padlock, never noticing." It had been used apparently as an ice-chest,
but it contained nothing now but the remains of half-dozen boiled
chickens, some ambiguous substance that might once have been butter, and
a singularly unappetising smell. He closed the lid again carefully.

He gave the kitten some milk in a dirty plate and sat watching its busy
little tongue for a time. Then he was moved to make an inventory of
the provisions. There were six bottles of milk unopened and one opened,
sixty bottles of mineral water and a large stock of syrups, about two
thousand cigarettes and upwards of a hu