MS-WU-MSS008-3-50-2

[4048] happened then. [4049] But a little later, perhaps a long time later, I found
him stretche^d on the ground, his head in a pulp. [4050] I am sorry I cannot
indicate more clearly how this result was obtained, [4051] it would have been
something worth reading. [4052] But it is not at this late stage of my relation
that I intend to give way to literature. [4053] I myself was unscathed, except
for a few scratches I did not discover till the following day.

[4054] I bent
over him. [4055] As I did so I realized my leg was bending normally. [4056] He no
longer resembled me. [4057] I took him by the ankles and dragged him backwards
into the shelter. [4058] His shoes shone with highly polished blacking. [4059] He ^wore
fancy socks. [4060] The trousers slid back, disclosing the white hairless legs.
[4061] H is ankles were bony, like my own. [4062] My fingers encircled them nearly.

[4063] He was wearing suspenders, one of which had come undone and was hanging
loose. [4064] This detail went to my heart. [4066] Already my knee was stiffening again.
[4067] It ^was no longer required to be supple. [4068] I went back to the shelter and took
my son's raincoat. [4069] I went back to the fire and lay down, with the coat
over me. [4070] I did not get much sleep, but I got some. [4071] I listened to the
owls.

[4072] They were not eagle-owls, it was a cry like the whistle of a
locomotive. [4073] I listened to a nightingale. [4074] And to distant corncrakes.
[4075] If I had heard of other birds that cry and sing at night, I should have
listened to them too. [4076] I watched the fire dying, my cheek pillowed on my
hands. [4077] I watched out for the dawn. [4078] It was hardly breaking when I got
up and went to the shelter.

[4079] His legs too were on the stiff side, but
there was still some play in the hip joints, fortunately. [4080] I dragged him
into the copse, with frequent rests on the way, but without letting go his
legs, so as not to have to stoop again to pick them up. [4081] Then I dismant^led
the shelter and threw the branches over the body. [4082] I packed and shouldered
the two bags, took the raincoat and the umbrella. [4083] In a word I struck camp.
[4084] But before leaving I consulted with myself to make sure I was forgetting