knees; and the next instant gave an unsteady cry of
joy:

"Water! Man, it's water!"

How we drank and wallowed, and wallowed and drank! That water might
have contained all the poisons in the world and we would have neither
known nor cared. But it was cool, fresh, living--and it saved our
lives.

We bathed our wounds and bandaged them with strips from our shirts.
Then we arranged our clothing for cushions and pillows as well as
possible, took another drink, and lay down to sleep.

We must have slept a great many hours. There was no way to judge of
time, but when we awoke our joints were as stiff as though they had
gotten rusty with the years. I was brought to consciousness by the
sound of Harry's voice calling my name.

Somehow--for every movement was exquisite pain--we got to our feet and
reached the water, having first removed our clothing. But we were now
at that point where to drink merely aggravated our hunger. Harry was
in a savage humor, and when I laughed at him he became furious.

"Have some sense. I tell you, I must eat! If it were not for your--"

"Go easy, Hal. Don't say anything you'll be sorry for. And I refuse
to consider the sordid topic of food as one that may rightfully contain
the elements of tragedy. We seem to be in the position of the king of
vaudeville. If we had some ham we'd have some ham and eggs--if we had
some eggs."

"You may joke, but I am not made of iron!" he cried.

"And what can we do but die?" I demanded. "Do you think there is any
chance of our getting out of this? Take it like a man. Is it right
for a man who has laughed at the world to begin to whine when it
becomes necessary to leave it?

"You know I'm with you; I'll fight, and what I find I'll take; in the
mean time I prefer not to furnish amusement for the devil. There comes
a time, I believe, when the stomach debases us against our wills. May
I die before I see it."

"But what are we to do?"

"That's more like it. There's only one hope. We must smell out the
pantry that holds the dried fish."

We talked no more, but set about bathing and dressing our wounds. Gad,
how that cold water took them! I was forced to set my teeth deep into
my lip to keep from crying out, and once or twice Harry gave an
involuntary grunt of pain that would not be suppressed.

When we had finished we waded far to the right to take a last deep
drink; then sought our clothing and prepared to start on our all but
hope