“Don’t give the dogs any water, William, nor any of the salt meat; give them biscuit only.”
“But they are very thirsty; may not I give them a little?”
“No: we shall want it all ourselves, in the first place; and, in the next, I wish them to be thirsty. And, William, take my advice, and only drink a small quantity of water at a time. The more you drink, the more you want.”
“Then I should not eat so much salt meat.”
“Very true; the less you eat the better, unless we find water, and fill our bottles again.”
“But we have our axes, and can always cut down a cocoa-nut, and get the milk from the young nuts.”
“Very true; and fortunate it is that we have that to resort to; but still we could not do very well on cocoa-nut milk alone, even if it were to be procured all the year round. Now we will go on if you do not feel tired.”
“Not in the least; I am tired of seeing nothing but the stems of cocoa-nut trees, and shall be glad when we are through the wood.”
“Then the faster we walk the better,” said Ready; “as far as I can judge, we must be about half-way across now.”
Ready and William recommenced their journey; and, after half-an-hour’s walking, they found that the ground was not so level as it had been—sometimes they went gradually up hill, at others down.