past twelve o'clock, and it is Christmas-day. It is a good
omen, Percy. This food isn't like roast beef and plum-pudding, but it's
not to be despised, I can tell you. Come, fire away, that's a good
fellow."

Percy made an effort and ate a few mouthfuls of rice and chicken, then
he took another draught of tea, and lay down, and was almost immediately
asleep.

Jack ate his food slowly and contentedly till he finished half the
supply, then he, too, lay down, and, after a short but hearty
thanksgiving for his escape from a slow and lingering death, he, too,
fell off to sleep. The sun was rising when he woke, being aroused by a
slight movement on the part of Percy; he opened his eyes and sat up.

"Well, Percy, how do you feel this morning?" he asked cheerily.

"I feel too weak to move," Percy replied languidly.

"Oh, you will be all right when you have sat up and eaten breakfast,"
Jack said. "Here you are; here is a wing for you, and this rice is as
white as snow, and the tea is first rate. I thought last night after I
lay down that I heard a murmur of water, so after we have had breakfast
I will look about and see if I can find it. We should feel like new men
after a wash. You look awful, and I am sure I am just as bad."

The thought of a wash inspirited Percy far more than that of eating, and
he sat up and made a great effort to do justice to breakfast. He
succeeded much better than he had done the night before, and Jack,
although he pretended to grumble, was satisfied with his companion's
progress, and finished off the rest of the food. Then he set out to
search for water. He had not very far to go; a tiny stream, a few
inches wide and two or three inches deep, ran through the wood from the
higher ground. After throwing himself down and taking a drink, he
hurried back to Percy.

"It is all right, Percy, I have found it. We can wash to our hearts'
content; think of that, lad."

Percy could hardly stand, but he made an effort, and Jack half carried
him to the streamlet. There the lads spent hours. First they bathed
their heads and hands, and then, stripping, lay down in the stream and
allowed it to flow over them, then they rubbed themselves with handfuls
of leaves dipped in the water, and when they at last put on their rags
again felt like new men. Percy was able to walk back to the spot they
had quitted with the assistance only of Jack's arm. The latter, feeling
that his breakfast had by no means appeased his hun