Li stopped as Alex grabbed her shoulders, turning her to face him. 'What did you say?' he said.

'I – I said, we'll all end up as skeletons, like-'

'- like that Japanese soldier,' finished Alex. He let go of Li's shoulders. 'I wonder…?'

Alex turned to stare up at the mountain, lost in thought. His back was straight and his eyes were sharp and focused again. Li held her breath and waited. Finally, he gave a decisive nod. 'Right,' he said, turning to face Li once more. 'Here's what we're going to do.'

'The lizard's ready!' called Amber, shaking the white chunks of meat out of the bamboo steamer onto a banana-leaf plate. 'Yum, yum,' she added in an undertone as she stared down at the steaming mound of komodo flesh.

'We shall mix it with this,' said Paulo, mashing boiled yams with a stone. 'And pretend it is chicken. It will be fine.'

'Yeah, right,' muttered Amber. She put her hands on her hips and turned to glare at Hex. 'I said, come and get it!'

Hex sat up slowly, then sank back onto his bed. 'Not hungry,' he said, turning his face away.

'Well that's just great,' said Amber. 'I slave over a hot fire cooking a lovely meal of giant reptile and you turn your nose up at it.'

Hex did not answer. Amber tutted and looked across at Alex and Li. They were still huddled further down the beach with their heads close together, deep in conversation. They had been like that for the past twenty minutes. Li had drawn some sort of diagram in the sand and they were both studying it intently. Li was doing most of the talking, pointing to the sand, then pointing up at the mountainside.

'Hey!' yelled Amber. 'I said, come and get it!'

Alex and Li looked at one another and shared one last nod. Then they both clambered to their feet and walked up the beach towards Amber.

While Paulo and Amber finished preparing the food, Alex poured some boiled drinking water into a coconut half-shell and took it over to Hex. 'Don't you fancy any lizard then?' he asked, sitting on the edge of the camp bed.

'It's not that,' said Hex. 'I don't feel too great.'

Alex laid a hand on Hex's forehead. 'Yeah, I know,' he said, casually. 'You have a fever. Sit up and take these. They'll help.'

Hex dragged himself into a sitting position and Alex handed over two of the precious aspirin from his survival tin. He noted the time as Hex swallowed the tablets, working out when he could safely give him the next dose. While Hex drank the rest of the water, Alex bent to examine the leg wound. It did not look good. The komodo's tooth had opened up a gash starting just below the knee and ending at the top of Hex's walking boot. The wound had partly closed but pus was oozing out from under the forming scab and the surrounding skin was red and puffy.

'So, what do you think?'

Alex jumped and looked up. Hex had finished the water and was watching him with sharp eyes. Alex quickly replaced his worried expression with a bland smile. 'You're doing fine,' he said.

Hex regarded him with a keen intelligence. 'That bad?' he drawled.

'OK. There's some infection,' admitted Alex. 'We'll eat first. That'll give the aspirin time to work. Then I'll clean it up for you.'

Hex again refused his portion of the food, so Amber put it on a flat stone by the fire and covered it with another banana leaf. Alex did not feel much like eating either, but Amber, Li and Paulo were all watching him, so he pushed a chunk of lizard meat into his mouth and forced himself to chew. 'Good,' he said. 'A bit like…'

'Chicken?' suggested Paulo.

'Chicken,' agreed Alex.

Paulo and Li both took a bite.

Amber watched them, then looked down at her own portion. 'It's chicken,' she said, closing her eyes. 'It's chicken. It is chicken. It. Is. Chicken…' She bit into a chunk of lizard meat, chewed, and swallowed. A surprised smile spread across her face and she opened her eyes. 'You know, that's not at all bad,' she said. 'For – um – chicken.'

They finished off with mangoes and as much fresh water as they could drink.

'You know, things could be a lot worse,' said Amber, settling back on the bench. 'And now we have our very own water supply just up the beach there. It's almost like home.'

'Like home,' agreed Paulo, beaming proudly as he watched a steady stream of water pouring from the last section of his bamboo aqueduct onto the beach. 'We will be fine here until we are rescued.'

Alex and Li shared a look, then glanced over at Hex. He had fallen into a restless sleep. His face was flushed and his hair was damp with sweat.

'What?' said Paulo. 'What is going on?'

'Come over here,' whispered Li, leading them out of Hex's hearing. 'We need to talk.'

Five minutes later, a grim-faced Paulo leaned over Hex and inspected the swollen leg.

'What do you think?' asked Alex.

'We need to get as much poison out as we can,' said Paulo, sniffing at the wound. 'Already it is beginning to smell bad. I think I know what to do.'

He hurried to the fire where Li was trying to comfort a softly crying Amber.

'Come on,' he said as he pushed the remaining mashed yams back over the flames to heat up. 'You must stop crying. Hex might wake up and hear you.'

Amber scowled at Paulo but he was concentrating on mixing a solution of antiseptic. Once he had done that, he turned one of his shorts pockets inside out and cut away the inner lining with Alex's knife.

Amber sniffed a few times, then wiped her eyes. 'What's that for?' she asked, watching Paulo dip the pocket lining into the antiseptic solution.

'I am making a poultice,' said Paulo, softly. 'To draw out the poison. I have done this often with horses when they develop the poison in the hoof. I hope it will work here, too.' He laid the pocket lining on a banana leaf and stuffed it with the steaming hot mashed yams. Finally, he turned to Alex.

'I need something from your tin.'

Alex stared at Paulo, then nodded and opened his survival tin. Paulo took out a foil sachet.

'What's that-?' began Li, then stopped as Paulo split open the sachet and removed a surgical scalpel blade. Li's eyes widened and she fell silent.

'Ready? asked Paulo, handing the coconut bowl of antiseptic to Li.

Li swallowed hard, then nodded and carried the antiseptic over to Hex's bed. She stroked his face until he woke up.

'Hello, nurse,' he said, grinning weakly. 'Time for my bed bath?'

'Those aspirin must be working,' joked Li.

Paulo studied Hex's face. He did look slightly better. His cheeks were not so flushed and he seemed to be in less pain, but Paulo knew that would only last until the aspirin wore off. It was time to get going.

'Listen to me, Hex,' he said firmly. 'I will clean the wound first with antiseptic, OK? Then I will make a quick cut with this scalpel and put this hot poultice over it-'

'Scalpel?' interrupted Hex, his voice loud with shock.

'I cannot let the wound close up,' explained Paulo. 'The pus has to drain.'

'Are you sure you know what you're doing?' demanded Amber.

'The pus has to drain,' repeated Paulo, looking into Hex's eyes. 'I'll be as quick as I can.'

Hex looked back at Paulo for the longest time, searching his face. Paulo kept his gaze steady. Finally, Hex tightened his lips and nodded.