Evening star., 1940-01-13

that 1t took me q long time to
crawl up the sloping bank and
stretch myself out on top of 1t.
The sun was shining and it was
warm there. I don't remember
much after that. for a long time.
must have gone to sleep, for when
I woke the sun had gone way down.
CThis entire episode is recon-
structed from the boys fragmentary
memories of this particular expert
ence. Without question, Dom kept
going, overcoming difficulties on the
way, IN a semi-automatic manner
during the final 48 hours before he
was found. He was emaciated,
starved, frightened, tired to the
point Of complete exhaustion-but
his mind, after the second day, re-
manned normal, except as fatigue
clouded 1t. This is clearly indi-
Gated by the bright shafts of mem
ory that continually pierce that
CLOUDY
I hated to move, but knew had
to. No one could sleep out on that
bar. To my surprise, my REFER was
almost dry.
Went to Sleep Early.
I took 1t of and spread it out on
the hot sand. Then I searched along
the edges of the stream for an open
space, in the hope of finding a
few berries. There weren't any, so
I picked up my REFER and went
down stream. I made pretty slow
time. I was lame and afraid of
falling into the water again. 1t
seemed to ME I wasn't getting any,
where at all. That evening, I went
to sleep early-on some moss under
a tree.
1t got cold that night, and
couldn't double up as tightly as
did other nights because my knees
were too stiff. That let my feet
out and, by morning, they didn't
have any feeling in them at all
not one bit. woke up once in the
dark, shivering. I curled uI
tighter and tried to sleep, but !
couldn't, for a long time. I kept
thinking of Mommy and Dad and
that airplane. I thought / heard
another plane, but, Of course. ]
didn't. People don't fly over that
place at night. It was Just some
thing in my head-maybe, a mos
quito near my ear
There were funny sounds, though
in those woods-things walking
something big and heavy-ano
something drinking-and the fun.
niest noise I ever heard, high
quavering screech that made you,
blood cold.
Probably a screech owl-makel
of one Of the most eerie sounds tc
be heard in the woods at night 1,
is remarkable that Dom does not
In his narrative, make greater refer
ence to night sounds. The probable
explanation is that he was so ex.
hausted each night and slept sc
profoundly that he heard little. Il
this explanation is correct, he was
protected from a hundred terrors
Wilderness woods are filled Will
night noises that are terrifying te
the ineXperienced.)
I guess it was a bird, for pretty
soon the noise came from another
spot. There were other noises, too
like trees and branches breakin,
and crashing down.
The Swink To The Rescue.
After a while, I fell asleep again
and I dreamed OF swink. Mayb,
you don't know what a swink is
but it looks like pig-has big ear
like a camel and has a long snou
like an anteater. It Is death t,
bugs and eats them up SO fast tina
pretty soon there aren't any.
read about 1t once in a book o
comics. Boy had a swink, and i
was beauty and what job it di,
on those bugs! First it licked m
legs clean, and then it licked m,
arms and it even licked my fac
and neck. never had anything fee
so good as the tongue of that swina
1t took me long time to wake vi
I'd keep waking UP and fallin
asleep again. When I did finali
get my eyes wide open, I couldn
make up my mind to go on. l wa
afraid that day would be Just ik
all the rest.
| CTomorroW-Rescue.)
Copyright 1889 By The welles Publishin