Hooker put the gold back onto the shirt. He was very afraid now. He did not want to be alone in the forest with his sick friend. He was far from help and nobody knew about his trip with Evans to the island. Hooker looked at his friend. He could not carry both the gold and Evans. He began to put gold on the shirt. The gold was heavy, so he did it slowly. He lifted the last piece of gold and something hurt his finger. He looked at his hand. There was a thorn in it and there was blood on his fingers. The thorn was two centimetres in length*. It was long and thin – like a tooth.
Suddenly, Evans cried loudly and fell onto the grass.
Hooker’s mouth dropped open. He looked at the thorn in his finger. He looked at Evans. Evans’s body shook and he cried out in pain. Hooker looked at all the trees, bushes and the big white flowers. He thought about the Chinaman’s body and looked again at Evans. He remembered the map, the marks at the bottom of it and the Chinese writing. At that time, he couldn’t understand the marks. But now he understood.
The marks were the shape* of the thorns.
‘Oh, help me!’ Hooker said quietly.
`Evans!’ cried Hooker. But Evans was quiet. His eyes were open, but they did not move.
Hooker put his finger into his mouth and sucked* his finger hard. But it was too late. He felt pain in his hands, arms and neck and he couldn’t move his fingers. He sat down. The forest was silent*. He thought about Chang Li’s smiling face. He looked at Evans’s body and then looked up. A little wind moved through the trees. From one of them, a big white flower fell down and landed* on the ground in front of him.
Pain shook his body.
His death was quick.
Adaption by EFLshorts.com
GLOSSARY
length – how long something is from end to end
shape – how something looks, its appearance
sucked – pulled something into the mouth
silent – without any sound, soundless, completely quiet
landed – fell, dropped, reached the ground
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