Chapter 3

Danny:

Danny walked back down to Elizabeth carrying two ripe coconuts. He tossed them at her feet and looked at the fish she mangled with the knife. Guess I'm gonna be the one catching and cleaning the fish. "When you finish working with a knife, you have to clean the blade princess, other wise it'll rust." Danny picked up a cloth from the dwindling pile of rags and wipes the blade clean. He wrapped the mauled fish into a leaf, saving it for bait.

"Those coconuts are going to add to the food we have. First we cut a hole in the coconut and drink the milk, then we bash it with something to break it up and eat the meat. It's good and beats fish day in and day out. You're gonna get tired of fish really fast, princess." Danny cut a hole in one of the coconuts for Elizabeth to drink from. He did the same with the other for himself. "Good huh?" he said as he drank the lukewarm milk.

"Hey Elizabeth," Danny said once his coconut was empty, "if you want to wash up, just let me know and I'll take you to the spring. I'll have to stay close, but I promise you I won't look, princess."
Danny set his coconut down and walked into the jungle looking for something to break the coconut apart with.

After a few minutes Danny returned with a stone, a stick and some tough vine. Danny used the knife to cut the stick so it would hold the stone, he then tied the stone to the stick with some vine. "Presto, jungle hammer."

Danny hit the coconut with the hammer, which promptly fell apart. After fixing the 'hammer' a few times, it finally broke the coconut open, exposing the fresh, white meat. He passed some to Elizabeth and they gnawed on it. Day 2 being marooned and we're doing pretty good, I wonder what's going to happen next.

Elizabeth:

The coconut was good. It was so sweet, but seemed like a lot to go thru to get food. I guess being marooned; I had to get use to doing things on my own. I would have to show Daniel that I could do things. I hadn't done too well with the fish, but I would show him somehow.

I was so hot that I did want to feel refreshed.

"Daniel, could you please take me to that spring? I am so hot and I want to cool off. Please?" Elizabeth asked as she gnawed on the coconut again.

Danny:

She seemed to be enjoying the coconut. Good, maybe she could adapt to this sort of life, at least until they were rescued. Danny finished gnawing on his pieces of coconut and tossed the husks in a pile on the beach. They may come in handy some day.

Elizabeth was gnawing on her coconut like a trooper. Then she asked, "Daniel, could you please take me to that spring? I am so hot and I want to cool off. Please?" I couldn't see anything wrong with her bathing at the spring; I'd be there to guard her.

"OK princess, I'll be on guard while you wash up and I promise not to peek. Wait here a minute." Danny returned with a few leaves Elizabeth had never seen before. "These are Eucalyptus leaves. They will be like wash cloths with soap, only they leave a nice cooling feeling and scent."

"Ready princess," asked Danny. Elizabeth nodded. "Just follow me then." Danny opened both sides of the knife. I'm ready if we run into anything. He led Elizabeth to the spring, then waited out of sight, behind a large bush. Soon he heard splashing sounds; she was cooling off and washing away the last few days. Danny waited patiently.

Elizabeth:

She followed Daniel to the spring. It was a little dark and then insects were all over the place. Elizabeth was walking slowly and had something run over her feet that she let out a shriek and held tight to Daniels arm. He flinched and got in attack mode, but then just looked down at her.

"I had something run over my foot. I didn't like the feel of it. I'm sorry Daniel."

He said nothing just continued on to the spring. Elizabeth saw him shake his head. There were a lot of things I was going to have to come to grips with. Me jumping at every little thing was one of them. I had to prove to Daniel that I could do this.

Soon they were at the spring and he was true to his word. He went out of sight so he couldn't see her. Elizabeth took the dress off and dove into the cool waters. It felt so good! She started to swim around the little spring then rubbed the leaves that Daniel had given her over her body. He was right and they did feel cooling and sort of tingly.

Elizabeth didn't want to be in the spring too long, but she could have sworn that she heard something. Elizabeth was sure it wasn't Daniel, but it could have been.

"Daniel? Are you there Daniel?" Elizabeth whispered into the jungle.

Danny:

Danny walked ahead of Elizabeth taking her to the spring. She let out a shriek then apologized, "I had something run over my foot. I didn't like the feel of it. I'm sorry Daniel." Danny just nodded and continued on. That girl is gonna be the death of me yet, she needs to calm down.

Elizabeth was enjoying the spring, while Danny kept watch. He couldn't really hear anything because of her splashing. The splashing stopped and Danny heard Elizabeth whispering, "Daniel? Are you there Daniel?" Then he heard a sound of leaves being brushed against.

Privacy be damned, something is out there. Danny burst through the bush just in time to see a giant python slide into the spring. Not even noticing Elizabeth and her lack of clothes, Danny jumped into the spring between Elizabeth and the snake. He grabbed it as it coiled around him and Elizabeth screamed.

Danny was hacking and slashing at the snake while trying not to be bitten. He knew the python wasn't poisonous, but it could chomp off a good piece of him if it got in a good, solid bite. The snake was soon bleeding into the water from its many wounds and it seemed to be getting weaker. The snake bit his right wrist and the knife fell into the water. Luckily for Danny, it had decided to retreat and left the pool.

Danny staggered out of the spring and fell face first into the brush, his wrist bleeding from the bite.

Elizabeth: