"I may as well go to sleep." He wrapped his blanket round him and lay down near the fire, and soon afterward Blake and Harding crept into the tent.

Benson would be warm enough where he lay, and they felt it a relief to get away from him.
Day was breaking when Blake rose and threw fresh wood on the fire, and as a bright flame leaped up, driving back the shadows, he saw that Benson was missing.

This, however, did not disturb him, for the man had been restless and they had now and then heard him moving about at night.

When the fire had burned up and he had filled the kettle, without seeing anything of his friend, he began to grow anxious.

He called loudly, but there was no answer, and he could hear no movement in the bush.