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With a flourish David hurled his sleeping bag along the tent while keeping hold of one end, so that it unrolled itself and lay ready for him. Jack spread his out more sedately and both of them stripped down to shorts and T-shirts in preparation to sleeping. They pushed their clothes into their rucksacks which were propped up against each other at the closed end of the tent.

Jack squirmed into his sleeping bag and then writhed on the ground, trying to get comfortable.

'Come on, David, let's get some sleep.'

David zipped the tent shut and pulled his bag up around him. He reached out an arm and switched off the torch. They lay there in the darkness, listening to each other's breathing.

The sound of a car passing drifted down from the road and in the distance they could hear the stream trickling between its stones. Soft night noises gradually became evident, lulling the two Americans towards sleep. Jack slipped into the semidoze that comes before true sleep and in his mind's eye found himself skating on an icy pond like a figure by Brueghel.

'Hey!'

Jack smashed through the ice at the sound of David's voice and jolted awake.

'Did you hear that?' said David.

'What?' Jack asked.

'I thought I heard a voice. Nearby.'

'I didn't hear anything. You were probably dreaming,'

'No, I was wide awake. I was thinking.'

'Hal' Jack snorted, 'you must have been dreaming.'

'Be quiet a moment, Jack, I ... '

Suddenly the tent collapsed and Jack felt himself being smothered by the folds of canvas as hands grabbed at him. There came the sound of tent material tearing and voices raised in Welsh.

Lights flashed in Jack's head as something struck him. He vaguely heard David crying out, but he couldn't rise. Slowly his limbs eased themselves back into action and he heard the voices retreating, but David was still shouting. He struggled from the confines of his sleeping bag and stood, looking around wildly. Headlamps glared in his eyes and he dimly saw the shape of a van pulling away. He ran after it, but it was accelerating and he hadn't a hope of catching it. But still he ran, following it into the road. The gravel stabbed into his bare feet and he winced from the pain.. There was a screeching of brakes and Jack stopped, watching the van disappear into the night. He turned to face the sound of the voice behind him.

‘What the hell do you think you're doing, lad? At your age, you should know better than to throw yourself in front of cars.’

A massive figure stood half in, half out of the car that had come to a halt behind Jack. The bright light from the headlamps made it difficult to make out the details of the man’s face and Jack tried to shield his eyes as his head began to throb.

'Now why don't you tell me what's going on?'

Hugh stood over the Doctor and looked down. Doctor Snape had been and gone. He had been puzzled by what he had seen, but had said that the Doctor and Ace both appeared to be sleeping normally now.

There were some signs of malnutrition, he had said, and had recommended that they go and see their own doctors as soon as possible. He had assured Janet and Hugh that it was only a matter of time before they woke up.

Janet came in and stood beside Hugh. He put his arm around her shoulders and drew her close to his side. Something about the Doctor made him shiver and he wanted to feel the comforting warmth of his wife’s body.

‘Look,’ he said, ‘his eyes are moving under his eyelids. I read about that once. It’s called rapid eye movement. It means he’s dreaming.’

‘Where’d you read that, love?’

‘ Reader’s Digest, I should think.’ He gave an embarrassed shrug. ‘Must have been at the dentist.’

Janet looked at the Doctor and sighed. ‘I wonder what he’s dreaming about?’

6:

A Journey in the Dark

The odour of damp straw soaked in urine and concealing packed layers of faeces alerted the Doctor that they were approaching the stabling and the lower levels of Dinorben.

'They never mentioned this on the Horse of the Year S how, ’ Ace complained.

'The stables house three hundred and are sorely undermanned. All the