Translation:The High Mountains/51

Phanis woke up in the middle of the night. Oh how frightened he was this time!

He had the impression that the trees were coming towards him. He saw them change shape, become black men ready to seize him.

The cold forced him to huddle up against the shrub. He thrust his face into the leaves, but yet once again he turned his head brusquely to see if the black men were coming.

If only he had a bit of cloth! One moment he had the impression that his mother was gently putting a soft warm cover over him, from his neck to his feet. He stretched out his hand to hold her but found nothing.

He's cold and wants to move. But hardly has he raised himself up than he thrusts himself down again: he saw other shadows coming, from over there.

And now all the stars are in the sky, like the other time. However, this evening Phanis doesn't see them.

He's in such a state that he remembers a thousand and one things. They come to mind all at the same time: the games he played, the courses he had last year, a fruit he cut and ate when he was little; a nest he'd found... Everything coming and going in his head, like ants in a nest. His head is buzzing.

His eyelids are burning and swollen. He really wants to sleep.

At last sleep came. This time it was deeper. Phanis will have slept for at least five or six hours. He felt in his sleep that he was cold, but he couldn't get up.

When he opened his eyes he forgot all his misfortune. He saw the day. He saw the trees golden in the sunshine. Everything looked at him, like friends. Birds spoke to him; the water no longer roared wildly as during the night; it sang.

His shrub was no longer black; it was a beautiful dark green and it shone. His two small trees, two dense round oaks, said to him: “We're here, Phanis”.

He got up, ran around for a bit and came back.

He was very hungry; he opened his bag and found his bread and some other food.

All his hope returned.

So now it seemed to him that he only needed to stretch out his hand and he could touch the cabins. He ate and drank some water from his flask.

Then he let himself gaze at the opposite bank.

He considered: “I'll get up, take the same path, move on, forward looking for the fir tree. If I could find the fir, from there I know how to get to the cabins. And then all at once I'll find them in front of me”.

He looked at the great hillside he'd crossed yesterday, looked at the stones, the red earth, the small bushes.

“Oh, he said suddenly, what's that moving down there? Goats?”

They were his friends. It was Andreas and four other boys. Yes, they were coming to look for him...

He couldn't speak straight away. He moved his hands in the air like two great wings. He raced down the slope; In one leap, he wanted to reach the other side. Then he stopped and shouted, a loud yell.

The children heard him. Then, Phanis on one bank, his companions on the other, all started to go down in a mad rush towards the river, to meet up. They jumped along making earth and stones fall. Cries of joy resounded in the deep valley: “Here, here! This way, come on, come on!”