The night passed without incident. Now and then, beasts stirred in the pine woods, rustling faintly in the distance, but none came close. At dawn, Zhang San woke shivering. His legs were so numb he couldn't stand, and it took a long while of rubbing them before they came back to life. Li Si was still asleep, looking a little better than the day before, with a touch of color in his lips. Zhang San didn't wake him. He went out of the hollow in the rocks and wandered through the woods, where he found a mountain stream. The water was so clear he could see the pebbles below. He crouched down and drank a few handfuls, then splashed his face with wet hands. The icy water made him shudder, but it woke him up completely.
There were footprints in the mud beside the stream: fresh human tracks, small in size, as if left by a child who wasn't quite grown. They led deeper into the woods. Zhang San crouched by the stream for a while, memorizing how many prints there were and which way they went, then headed back to wake Li Si.
