Summary

In Chapter 1, several prisoners are forced to march down the hill from their camp to help retrieve a truck stuck in the mud. Rabbit Hendricks has two duck eggs, given to him by the Japanese for sketching postcards they will send home. Rabbit also sketches scenes from everyday life in the POW camp. Rabbit traded Darky Gardiner one of the duck eggs for a paint brush Darky stole from a Japanese guard. Darky also has a small can of condensed milk he stole from a Japanese truck. After he returns from helping to retrieve the truck, Darky decides to eat the egg, knowing the milk will keep longer.

Tiny Middleton and Darky are partners drilling holes in stone along the rail line. Tiny is a huge man who has also begun to waste away after the time as a prisoner. However, he...