ABSTRACT
During a vicious snowstorm, Flight 999 is thrown off-course and crashes in the Himalayas. By a miracle, three people on board survive. Or maybe we should say two and a half, as one of them is a young boy so badly injured that he cannot move. As if that was not bad enough, the pilot, who knows about such things, says there is no prospect of rescuers finding them because they are so far off-course. Worse, if they stay put another day or two, he says the cold will finish them all off! Their only chance is to leave the shelter of the plane and walk over the top of the mountain range and down to the monastery there, a trip of maybe two days. Now the other survivor is a fit young man and he cheerfully agrees to attempt the hike. But he points out that to have any chance of surviving they will have to eat something. Taking the pilot aside, he points out that the only food available is the injured boy!
