Alawa tells Mary that it has always been a sign of hope and home for the Nipmuc people, a place to gather beneath the shelter of sacred spirits.A feeling of dread comes over Mary, as if she is walking to her doom. Worse, she perceives she is not alone in this, but everyone around her is doomed as well; they are gathering not in hope but in desperation.Everyone is starving. It is plain in the ravaged faces around her, in the exhausted strides of the gaunt warriors, and in the sorrow in the eyes of the old ones. They now eat anything they can fit into their mouths: insects, grubs, worms, tree bark, hides, even bones. One evening Mary is given a shard of boiled horse’s hoof and sits on the ground, sucking and chewing until there is nothing left. A saying is passed around: Hunger masters the strongest warrior once it makes its home among the people.She begins to hear rumors that Boston has offered payment for the captives. It is said that Philip will surely accept, for he needs more muskets, more bullets and, most of all, more food for his people.
