He Returned In The Afternoon Of The 18th, Having Found The Blanket
Together With A Bag Containing Two Pistols And Some Other Things Which
Had Been Left Beside It.
We had some tripe de roche in the evening but
Mr. Hood, from the constant griping it produced, was unable to eat more
than one or two spoonfuls.
He was now so weak as to be scarcely able to
sit up at the fireside and complained that the least breeze of wind
seemed to blow through his frame. He also suffered much from cold during
the night. We lay close to each other but the heat of the body was no
longer sufficient to thaw the frozen rime formed by our breaths on the
blankets that covered him.
At this period we avoided as much as possible conversing upon the
hopelessness of our situation and generally endeavoured to lead the
conversation towards our future prospects in life. The fact is that with
the decay of our strength our minds decayed, and we were no longer able
to bear the contemplation of the horrors that surrounded us. Each of us,
if I may be allowed to judge from my own case, excused himself from so
doing by a desire of not shocking the feelings of others, for we were
sensible of one another's weakness of intellect though blind to our own.
Yet we were calm and resigned to our fate, not a murmur escaped us, and
we were punctual and fervent in our addresses to the Supreme Being.
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