- Unable to rouse an unconscious Zero, Stanley picks him up and slings him over his shoulder. He has to leave the shovel and the sack with the empty sploosh jars behind, but he carries Zero step by step up the mountain.
- Now this is what we call heroic.
- After a while, Stanley starts smelling something pretty nasty. It gets stronger and stronger as he goes up the mountain.
- Finally, exhausted, Stanley drops Zero, falling face-down into a muddy ditch.
- And at that moment, he realizes that in order to have mud, you have to have water. Water!
- He crawls to the muddiest area he can find and digs a hole with his hands. He scoops out the muddy water at the bottom of the hole, drinks some, and pours some into Zero's mouth.
- As he continues to dig, Stanley finds an onion growing in the dirt.
- (Yep – we're on the same page, Shmoopers.)
- He and Zero each eat half of the onion. Things are starting to look up.