CLUE: Pages from Perdita's Diary (continued)

Friday, January 24, 1834. Again today, Mother and I met at what passes for midday in this forsaken land, near the quarantine tent where she and the others reside. I cannot approach and if the wind blows we cannot speak. But there is little that need be said.

Saturday, January 25, 1834. By signs and gestures Mother has told me that Harper, Smith and Carlotto have died. I told Lt Harding and he delivered wood sufficient for the job to be done.

Monday, January 27, 1834. Mother now holds a cloth over her face. She says that Pierce is better and may recover.

Tuesday, January 28, 1834. Mother died today -- or maybe yesterday, I cannot be sure. When I walked out for rendezvous and saw the smoke billowing and Sarah awaiting, I knew it all without words. Lt Harding came and escorted me back to our tent, a kindness for which I will be forever grateful.

Wednesday, January 29, 1834. Have the sailors smoked the truth? Are we in fact a cursed company? A horrible great storm has passed over us, such that the ground itself shook with its force. Then we discovered that the winds had forced great sheets of ice onto the shore. Where the quarantine tent once stood is now a mountain of ice. There can be no hope whatsoever for Mr Pierce, Mr Yates and poor Sarah.

Friday, January 31, 1834. Every day, I believe, the human heart receives a portion of Hope from some eternal well. I shame to think now of days gone by when I frittered away my portion on foolish things for weeks on end.

Now each of us wakes with only a flicker of Hope left, and wonders if it will be enough to see us to another day. It was foolish of us to hope that by moving camp we could leave Death behind. Now we move again, without Henty Yates, Sarah Byers, and my mother, the bravest people I have ever known.

The deaths of Henty and Sarah have quite unnerved the sailors, my father says. But I know without words it is really what happened to the Four Without Graves that haunts his thoughts every day we remain in this place.

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