For the past four weeks, since the end of the fresh food, ship’s biscuit had been all any of them between decks were given to eat, and even that had dwindled from three biscuits a day to one. The slow starving worsened each day, gnawing mercilessly at both strength and will Sitting on the deck beside Dianna, Mary Penhallow cradled her youngest son in her lap. The dry rattle of the boy’s breathing shook his wasted little body, and he was too weak now to resist the fever that unnaturally brightened his cheeks. The arc of light from the swinging lantern overhead caught the dread in Mary’s face, and Dianna looked away. The siilor who brought the biscuits and water each morning growled that they should expect no better on a winter crossing, but Dianna didn’t believe him, not with his jowls and fat belly. But the Penhallows and the others did not agree with her. The Prosperity was a Christian vessel, they argued doggedly, the captain a good man, a gentleman who had promised to treat them well, and to question him would only cause trouble..
