Then I Give Them A Tot Of Rum
Apiece, As They Sit Huddled In Their Blankets, And Tear Up A
Lot of
the brittle, rotten wood from the trees and shrubs, getting horrid
thorns into my hands the while, and
Set to work getting a fire with
it and the driest of the moss from beneath the rocks. By the aid of
it and Xenia, who soon revived, and a carefully scraped up candle
and a box of matches, the fire soon blazes, Xenia holding a blanket
to shelter it, while I, with a cutlass, chop stakes to fix the
blankets on, so as to make a fire tent.
The other boys now revive, and I hustle them about to make more
fires, no easy work in the drenching rain, but work that has got to
be done. We soon get three well alight, and then I clutch a
blanket - a wringing wet blanket, but a comfort - and wrapping myself
round in it, issue orders for wood to be gathered and stored round
each fire to dry, and then stand over Cook while he makes the men's
already cooked chop hot over our first fire, when this is done
getting him to make me tea, or as it more truly should be called,
soup, for it contains bits of rice and beef, and the general taste
of the affair is wood smoke.
Kefalla by this time is in lecturing form again, so my mind is
relieved about him, although he says, "Oh, ma!
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