The food in the pack ran out on thefollowing day, and the boy went foraging. Certain fruits were ripening, certainwild tubers swelling. He plucked and dug these and bound them in the jacket heno longer wore and loped with the bpndle back to their enforced camp. In thismanner he sustained them both.

      On the fourth day the man began bleedingfrom the skin. Some parts of his body were as hard as wood and did not bleed;but where the skin was natural, it hemorrhaged. The man touched himself withdismay, but could not hold on to consciousness.

      The boy took cloth from the pack andsoaked it in water and bathed the blood away. But when more blood cam;appearing as if magically on the surface though there was no abrasion, he letit collect and cake. This slowed the flow. He knew that blood had to be keptinside the body, for he had bled copiously once when wounded and had felt veryweak for many days. And when animals bled too much, they died.

      Whenever the man revived, the boy gave himfruit and the special stems to eat, and whatever water he could accept withoutchoking. When he sank again into stupor, the boy packed the moist leavestightly about him. When it grew cold, he covered the man with the bag he sleptin, and lay beside him, shielding him from the worst of the night wind.

      The dog crawled away and died.

      Days passed. The sick man burned up hisown flesh, becoming gaunt, and the contours of his body were bizarre. It was asthough he wore stones and boards under the skin, so that no point could penetrate;but with the supportive flesh melting away, the armor hung loosely. It hamperedhis breathing, his elimination. But perhaps it had also stopped some of theradiation, for the boy knew that physical substance could do this to a certainextent.

      The man was near death, but he refused todie. The boy watched, aware that he was spectator to a greater courage battlinga more horrible antagonist than any man could hope to conquer. The boy's ownfather and brothers had yielded up their lives far more readily. Blood andsweat and urine matted the leaves, and dirt and debris covered the man, butstill he fought.