"How often do you go down the mountain?"

His answers were all carefully pondered as if he was searching for words. "No leave here."

"You've spoken to other hikers though, haven't you?"

"No talk mans. No like mans."

"Am I the only other person you've seen all this time?"

He paused again to think about the question and shortly answered, "Me seed mans walk. Seed fire. Me get fire-stick mans leaved. Make fire. Get clothes mans leaved."

"And you never tried to talk to them?"

"Scared mans."

They talked through the rest of the night and Paul talked about how he was seven years old when he somehow lost his parents and had survived alone in the forest. He told of how he hunted and fished using tools and traps. Some of them he had devised himself and others were left by hikers.

Eventually, they each fell asleep and awoke to sunshine, spilling through the mouth of the cave. Dave got up and stepped outside, followed by Paul who looked a little better in the light of day, but still scraggly.

Having spent several days with Paul, Dave couldn't talk him into going back with him and he cried like a baby when Dave told him he had to go. He assured Paul that he was coming back and it was heartbreaking to walk away, seeing him cry so pitifully, begging Dave to stay. Dave knew he had to get back and was worried about having no equipment or supplies. But he had survival skills and believed he would make it if there weren't any more storms.

When Dave reached home, he told his family about Paul. A few weeks later, he talked his dad, Roy and Roy's dad into joining him when he went back to the mountain to try and talk Paul into coming back with them.

Three days of entering the forest, they were in the general vicinity where he had met Paul but he couldn't find him. They searched for hours as Dave called out to him. The cave was empty. He had packed everything and left. Roy finally talked Dave into going back home.

A few days later, Dave went back alone to the mountain, looking once more for Paul. He was approaching the area where he had camped the night that he met him and Paul dropped out of a tree, landing right in front of him.

"Paul!" he shouted with a laugh. Paul wrapped his bony arms around him in a tight bear hug. It took a minute or so to get him to let go and when he finally stepped away, his face was covered with tears of happiness.

Feeling his loneliness, touched by his joy, Dave said, "I came back and called your name over and over, Paul. We looked for hours."

Wiping the

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