Once again they were faced with a series of islet
leaps, and now they carried with them brush culled from the bigger
tussocks to aid in times of need.
When Dane scrambled up the last pull, staggered, and went down to his
knees again, he knew he was done. He did not even move at an excited cry
from Nymani, echoed a moment later by Asaki. It was not until the latter
leaned over him, a canteen open in his hand, that Dane aroused a little.
"Drink!" the Khatkan urged. "We have found a water tree. This is fresh."
The liquid might have been fresh, but it also had a peculiar taste,
which Dane did not note until he had gulped down a generous swallow. At
that moment he was past caring about anything but the fact that he did
have a portion of drinkable stuff in hand.
Here the stunted, unnatural growth of the swamplands had given away to
the more normal vegetation of the jungle-clad lowlands. Had they come
clear across the swamp, Dane wondered dully, or was this only a large
island in the midst of the stinking boglands?
He drank again and regained strength enough to crawl to where his
shipmates lay.
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