page232 (1/2)

She knew greens and roots could be eaten, but she didn’t knoas edible The first leaf she tasted was bitter and stung her mouth She spit it out and rinsed her mouth to remove the taste, but it made her hesitant to try another She drankof fullness and started downstreahtened her now and she stayed close to the strea a place out of the needled ground and curled up in it again

Her second night alone was no better than her first Cold terror lay in the pit of her stoer She had never been so terrified, she had never been so hungry, she had never been so alone Her sense of loss was so painful, she began to block out the hts of the future brought her so close to panic, she fought to push those fears froht happen to her, ould take care of her

She lived only for thethe next tributary, scra the stream became an end in itself, not because it would take her anywhere, but because it was the only thing that gave her any direction, any purpose, any course of action It was better than doing nothing

After a time, the emptiness in her stomach became a numb ache that deadened her mind She cried now and then as she plodded on, her tears painting white streaks down her grubby face Her small naked body was caked with dirt; and hair that had once been nearly white, and as fine and soft as silk, was plastered to her head in a tangle of pine needles, twigs, and mud

Traveling becaed to ave way to obstructing brush, herbs, and grasses, the characteristic ground cover beneath small-leafed deciduous trees When it rained, she huddled in the lee of a fallen log or large boulder or overhanging outcrop, or si the rain wash over her At night, she piled dry brittle leaves left over frorowth into mounds and crawled into them to sleep

The plentiful supply of drinking water kept dehydration froerous contribution to hypotherht death froer; there was only a constant dull pain and an occasional feeling of light-headedness She tried not to think about it, or about anything except the strea the stream

Sunlight penetrating her nest of leaves woke her She got up fro pocket war drink, da to her The blue sky and sunshine elcome after the rain of the day before Shortly after she started out, the bank on her side of the river gradually began to rise By the time she decided to stop for another drink, a steep slope separated her fro and tumbled all the way to the bottom

She lay in a scraped and bruised heap in the mud near the water, too tired, too weak, too e tears welled up and streamed down her face, and plaintive wails rent the air No one heard Her cries beca someone to come and help her No one came Her shoulders heaved with sobs as she cried her desperation She didn’t want to get up, she didn’t want to go on, but what else could she do? Just stay there crying in the mud?

After she stopped crying, she lay near the water’s edge When she noticed a root beneath her jabbing uncomfortably in her side and the taste of dirt in her mouth, she sat up Then, wearily, she stood up and went to the strea aside branches, crawling over e of the river

The strea floods, had swelled to more than double fro before she saw the waterfall cascading down the high bank at the confluence of a large streaain Beyond the waterfall, the swift currents of the corassy plains of the steppes

The thundering cataract rushed over the lip of the high bank in a broad sheet of white water It splashed into a foa a constant spray of mist and whirlpools of countercurrents where the rivers met At some time in the distant past, the river had carved deeper into the hard stone cliff behind the waterfall The ledge over which the water poured jutted out beyond the wall behind the falling streaeway between

The girl edged in close and looked carefully into the da curtain of water She clutched at the wet rock to steady herself as the continuous falling, falling, falling of the flowing strea from the stone wall in back of the tumultuous flow She looked up fearfully, anxiously aware that the strea rocks over her head, and crept forward slowly

She was nearly to the other side when the passageway ended, gradually narrowing until it was a steep wall again The undercut in the cliff did not go all the way; she had to turn around and go back When she reached her starting place, she looked at the torrent surging over the edge and shook her head There was no other way

The water was cold as she waded into the river, and the currents strong She swam out to the middle and let the flow of the water carry her around the falls, then angled back to the bank of the widened river beyond The swi tired her, but she was cleaner than she had been for soled hair She started out again feeling refreshed, but not for long

The day was unseasonably warave way to the open prairie, the hot sun felt good But as the fiery ball rose higher, its burning rays took their toll of the s along a narrow strip of sand between the river and a steep cliff The sparkling water reflected the bright sun up at her, while the al to the intense glare