That night, the air became colder and clearer, and the stars shone more brightly and in even greater numbers than before. They came to a stop shortly after midnight. When Ralph and Pran joined the others in the wagon, they ate a meal beneath the light of a lantern which hung from one of the wagon’s metal stays. Afterward, they pulled the canvas overtop the metal stays, blew the light out, huddled together under blankets for mutual warmth, and slept soundly.
Ralph awoke with a small form pressed to his side. Glancing down, he could see Malina’s white-blonde hair in the first pale light of dawn. They had not lain together in this position when they went to bed, and it seemed to him after a moment that she had probably sought him out in her sleep; her blankets lay abandoned near his feet, where she had curled up beside Deborah. Though asleep, she was shivering, laying on top of his blankets, wearing only her light peasant dress.
Acting on impulse, guided by a strong, protective feeling he suddenly felt towards this girl, he reached down, got her blankets, pulled his own from underneath her, and covered them both. She made a small noise in her sleep and shifted against him to a more comfortable position, but didn’t wake. He was about to give himself up to sleep once more, when he noticed that Pran was watching him with a look somewhere between worry and relief.