Chapter 15

The trip started as soon as dawn had broken and it was beginning to take its share of exhaustion when the sun was high in the sky at that latitude located north of the Tropic of Capricorn and on a date not far from the Equinox.

Laszlo, who by unexplained consensus regulated the length of the route carried out on each day, observed Meiling and Aylen and saw evident signs of fatigue in them. This, together with the need to regain strength by eating and to get water from a nearby torrent, made him stop along the way in a glade in which an intermittent breeze blew, bringing some relief.

While Laszlo was preparing lunch Jean Luc descended to a stream whose sound was heard to fill the canteens while the others lay on the grass in the shade.