. He had suffered from it in India, and now it had
attacked him again, in his weakened condition due to the hardships of
the march. Sometimes he was too hot and sometimes he lay awake
shivering for hours. Saying nothing to his companions, however, he
patiently trudged on, though his head throbbed and he was conscious of
a depressing weakness.

The ground grew softer as they proceeded. The creek no longer kept
within its banks, but spread in shallow pools; and the rotting trees
were giving place to tall grass and reeds. The valley had turned into
very wet muskeg. It was shut in by hills whose rocky sides were seamed
by ravines and covered with banks of stones and short brush, through
which it was almost impossible to force a passage.

After making several attempts to get out of the valley, the men plodded
on through the muskeg, tramping down the wiry grass, often stumbling
over a partly submerged tree-trunk.

Then one day Blake felt his head reel. He staggered, and dropped down
heavily.

"Sorry!" he mumbled. "Malaria!"

His companions gazed at him in dismay. His face was flushed; his eyes
glittered; and he lay limply among the grass. He looked seriously ill.
Harding, realizing that the situation must be grappled with, resolutely
pulled himself together.

"You can't lie there; the ground's too wet," he said. "It's drier on
yonder hummock, and we'll have to get you across to it. If you can
stand up and lean on us, we'll fix you comfortably in camp in a few
minutes."

Blake did not move. Instead, he lay gazing up at them and mumbling to
himself. With much trouble, they got him to a small, stony knoll,
where they made a fire and spread their blankets on a bundle of reeds
for him to lie on. Then he spoke, in a faint and listless voice.

"Thanks! I think I'll go to sleep. I'll feel better to-morrow."

He fell asleep, but his rest was broken, for he moved his limbs and
muttered now and then. It was a heavy, gray afternoon, with a cold
wind rippling the leaden pools and rustling the reeds, and the watchers
felt dejected and alarmed. Neither had any medical knowledge, and they
were a very long way from the settlements. Rocky hillsides and wet
muskegs, which they could not cross with a sick companion, shut them
off from all help. Their provisions were not plentiful; and the
rigorous winter would soon set in.

They scarcely spoke to each other as the afternoon wore away. When
supper time came, Har