do
you say to a nap?"

"Shall we find the fish and make the fire, Dr Martin?" said the boy,
anxiously.

"I hope so," was the reply. "Let's try. Come along. Hang on to my
hand; or, look here, Phil, what do you say to a pig-a-back?"

"Yes," cried the little fellow, holding out his hands eagerly. "No, I
won't. I'm not quite tired, and I'm getting so heavy now. It isn't
far, is it?"

"Not very," said the Doctor, rather faintly, and they trudged on and
reached a little stream, which cut its way through the sandy land just
at the very edge of a pine wood, to sink at once upon the bank.

There were no fish visible, but the clear water was delicious, and they
drank long and deeply, before bathing their weary and sore feet.

"What fun!" cried Phil, reviving a little as he buried his feet in the
soft, warm, dry sand and let it trickle between his toes.

But a cloud came over his face directly after, for it was many hours
since anything had passed his lips. There was abundance of dead wood
low down about the trunks of the fir-trees, but no flint and steel or
tinder-box to obtain fire, and the evening was very near.

The Doctor looked far and near, but no farmhouse or settlement was in
sight, and when after a long rest he proposed that they should make a
fresh start and Phil replaced his socks and shoes, he limped when he
stood up, and in spite of a brave effort the tears would come to his
eyes.

"Let's rest a little longer," said the Doctor, tenderly, and he led the
way a short distance into what proved to be a vast pine forest, where
the needles that had fallen for ages lay in a thick dry bed. "Let's try
here," he said, as he raked a hollow beneath the great far-spreading
boughs, which were thick enough to form a shelter from any wind or rain
that might come.

"Lie down, my boy," said the old man, gently, and the little fellow
glanced at him piteously and obeyed.

"Oh, don't look at me so reproachfully, my child," sighed the Doctor to
himself, as the weary boy's eyes looked large and dark in the shade; but
only for a few moments before they grew dull, and then the lids fell and
he was sleeping so soundly that he did not stir when the Doctor raked
the soft sweet-scented pine needles round him till he lay as if it were
in a nest.

And only a few minutes after the Doctor had sunk lower and lower,
drooping over his charge to keep watch, but only to leave that to the
great bright stars which came out one by one