on the situation, as this has unwittingly placed him in an ethical and moral quandary. He had been on his walkabout, or test of manhood, prior to crossing paths with the white children. According to tribal law, he is not to be with any other people while he is on his walkabout. But the children need help or they will surely perish, and he is disturbed that leaving them behind would be the wrong course of action. By the time the trio arrive at the next waterhole, the symptoms of the flu Peter has unwittingly passed on to the bush boy are beginning to show in the latter. He begins to worry and decides he must tell the children he needs a burial platform to keep bad spirits from his body and to keep the snakes from "molesting his body" after his death. Peter is gathering firewood, and so to avoid interrupting a man at work, the bush boy seeks Mary, who is bathing. The bush boy doesn't see a bath as something private; he arrives at the pool and Mary is terrified, threatening the bush boy with snarls and a rock. He is confused and becomes depressed, believing that he will not have his burial platform. Mary goes to Peter and tells him to leave with her, but Peter is concerned about the bush boy and so Mary is forced to stay. Peter tells her that the bush boy is very sick; he realizes that the bush boy could die, while Mary refuses to believe that the flu could be fatal, not understanding the native boy's fear of the Spirit of Death he believes she saw in him. Soon, Mary goes to investigate. Finally, she acknowledges that he is actually dying and forgives him. She lays his head in her lap and he touches her hair. Mary realizes that they are not so different, despite his appearance and language. He dies later in the night. They bury him and leave for the food and water-filled valley Peter was told about by the bush boy before he died. They stop at a pool where they eat some yabbies, observe platypus and leave. In a valley rich in water, food, and wildlife, they survive for many days with the skills learned from the bush boy. When Peter is playing with a baby koala, Mary demands he stop out of concern the