1609, Winter of the Dead: A Novel of the Founding of Jamestown (20 page)

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January 16, 1610

The winter rages on. We've seen snow and sleet and more of us dead. The frozen ground is hard to dig for graves, and our arms can barely wield a shovel. We had nearly five hundred when John Smith was sent back to England. Now there are barely one hundred. Should we have come? I do not know. Will we become like the colony of Roanoke Island and vanish without a trace? I do not know that either. We are in the hands of time and fate.

But I think I have become a man. I have found friendship is a good thing, and that it is better to work together than apart. Lessons which may serve me well if I live. I hope I will.

Audrey is meeting me in a few minutes. We are going to collect acorns. There might still be a few in the forest which can be cooked, and perhaps if I have the strength, I can climb a tree like Laughing Boy taught me and watch for a lumbering groundhog.

Together. It is a good word. Whether for another week or a lifetime. God get us all through this.

Together.

Tor Books by Elizabeth Massie

1870: Not With our Blood

1609: Winter of the Dead

1776: Son of Liberty

1863: A House Divided

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

1609: WINTER OF THE DEAD

Copyright © 2000 by Elizabeth Massie

All rights reserved.

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

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ISBN-13: 978-0-765-35604-8

ISBN-10: 0-765-35604-X

First Edition: March 2000

Second Edition: March 2007

eISBN 9781466856103

First eBook edition: September 2013