“Cold here, but warm in other place. Deeper to go we need. Please,” he looked at the oblivious Debby and then nodded to himself, “Water there. For her we need it.”
“The important thing now is to make a fire and keep her warm. Let’s go a bit more,” Jean-Pierre said, looking at Debby, and took hold of one edge of the door.
The cave was quite wide. Jean-Pierre, David, and Dr Capri took the stretcher and followed the hermit. He walked ahead with Yulia and talked with her nonchalantly about something.
The second hall of the cave was slightly larger than the first and quite spacious. There were several stalactites on the wall opposite the narrow entrance. In the center was a place to keep the fire going, which smoldered slightly. To the left of the entrance were semblances of shelves on which lay books and some dried flowers and plants. On the right was a pile of twigs and a few dry scraps of dung. Near the entrance hung a lamp with several lights burning. The temperature in the cave was very comfortable. First Yulia and then everyone else felt their bodies go limp and relax from the warmth.
The men placed the stretcher next to the smoldering fire.
“Water,” the hermit said, pointing to the iron pot, “good to drink.”
Dr Capri took a small steel pot that stood on a stone near the fire. He poured water on his hand and wiped Debby’s face, touched her tangled hair, and tried to pour some water into her mouth. Debby coughed. That cough made everyone smile and relax even more. Debby began to greedily gulp down the water with her mouth. She drank as if she had taken her last sip of water at her home in Stamford. The water quickly ran out.
David stepped back tiredly and sat down, leaning against the wall near the entrance to the cave. He was tired, his legs and arms disobeying him. Yulia sat beside the stretcher, while the doctor and the Frenchman attended to Debby. They began to examine her leg again. Debby was whispering something incomprehensible and would not open her eyes. The hermit tossed some dry pieces into the fire and listened to Debby’s inarticulate words.
He looked at the girl and the doctor and Jean-Pierre, who were fiddling around her.
“Better will be,” he nodded, “rest and water needed. Tomorrow we can see.”