### 243

You roll off the bed and drag yourself across the floor to where your Backpack lies. Hurriedly you pull open the flap, retrieve the Cowana herb, and rub it vigorously into your thigh. The pain eases and, in a matter of minutes, you sense that the deadly venom has been neutralized by the powerful healing properties of this herb. (Erase the Cowana from your Action Chart.)

You return to your bed and, as you sit down, you see that the spider is still alive: it is clinging to the far wall. You hurl your boot at it and it scurries down to disappear through a crack in the uneven bamboo floor. Your close encounter with this potentially deadly spider plays on your mind and you find it impossible to go back to sleep (lose 3 ENDURANCE points due to nausea and fatigue).

At first light you gather together your equipment and go down to the paddock to collect your horse. The hostel-keeper calls you from the kitchen window and you wave the man farewell before you mount your horse and ride away across the courtyard.

Turn to 314.