d 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, two feet
wide and several 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 two 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 hunger, now started for
a search through the wood, and presently returned to Percy laden with
nuts and berries.

"The nuts are sure to be all right; I expect the berries are too. I have
certainly seen some like them in native markets, and I think it will be
quite safe to risk it."

The rest of the day was spent in picking nuts and eating them. Then they
sat down and waited for the arrival of their friend. He came two hours
after nightfall with a wallet stored with provisions, and told them that
he had regained the village unobserved. The attack had been repulsed,
but with severe loss to the defenders as well as the assailants; two
of their guards had been among the killed. The