stirred about in my arms.

"Gad, that smells good!" cried Harry.

I shuddered.

He dragged the thing a few feet away, and I heard him slashing away at
it with his spear. A minute later he came running over to us with his
hands full of something.

That was not exactly a pretty meal. How Desiree, in her frightfully
weakened condition, ever managed to get the stuff down and keep it
there is beyond me. But she did, and I was not behind her. And, after
all, it was fresh. Harry said it was "sweet." Well, perhaps it was.

We bathed Desiree's hands and face and gave her water to drink, and
soon after she passed into a seemingly healthy sleep. There was about
ten pounds of meat left. Harry washed it in the stream and stowed it
away on a rock beneath the surface of the water. Then he announced his
intention of going back for more.

"I'm going with you," I declared. "Here--help me fix Desiree."

"Hardly," said Harry. "Didn't I say there are millions of those things
over there? Anyway, there are hundreds. If they should happen to
scatter in this direction and find her, she wouldn't stand a chance.
You take the other spear and stay here."

So I sat still, with Desiree's body in my arms, and waited for him. My
sensations were not unpleasant. I could actually feel the blood
quicken in my veins.

Civilization places the temple of life in the soul or the heart, as she
speaks through the mouth of the preacher or the poet; but let
civilization go for four or five days without anything to eat and see
what happens. The organ is vulgar, but its voice is loud. I need not
name it.

In five minutes Harry returned, dragging two more of the creatures at
his heels. In half an hour there were a dozen of them lying in a heap
at the edge of the water.

"That's all," he announced, panting heavily from his exertions. "The
rest have taken to the woods, which, I imagine, is quite a journey from
here. You ought to see our friend--the one who couldn't make his eyes
behave. They've eaten him full of holes. He's the most awful
mess--sickening beast. He didn't have a bone in him--all crumpled up
like an accordion. Utterly spineless."

"And who, in the name of goodness, do you think is going to eat all
that?" I demanded, pointing to the heap of bodies.

Harry grinned.

"I don't know. I was so excited at the very idea of a square meal that
I didn't know when to stop. I'd give five fingers for a fire and some
salt. Ju