They quickly erected a tarpaulin to protect both themselves and their fire from the rain while they had breakfast. Jack was given the menial task of collecting water and firewood, while Pike and Barklice, expert campers, arranged things so that the rain poured off their temporary cover first as a shower to wash themselves, about which they were meticulous, and then to fill their water bottles. In the wake of Stort’s likely death the mood was sombre: Brief said little, Pike nothing at all. The practical Barklice, apparently unaware of the lunatic state he had got into the night before, now wanted to strike camp as fast as he could and get back to Brum. But, unlike the other two, he did not now believe for one moment that Stort was dead. ‘He’ll pop up soon enough, you see if he doesn’t!’ he assured Jack more than once. Nevertheless they decided to wrap Stort’s clothes in the bin-liner he had left behind and place them conspicuously by the standing stone, along with his portersac.
