Chapter 3 Summary

After providing 11 days of bad and insufficient food, Nemu orders the women on their way. It is the middle of March 1942. Horsefall comes down with malaria, never fully recovers her strength, and cedes leadership to Paget. There is no ship in Port Dickson. Paget sells a brooch to buy a cheap sarong, the lightest and coolest of tropical garments. The others disapprove of her "going native," but soon follow suit. They spend ten days before being expelled as a nuisance. En route, at Siliau, young Jane Holland dies. Eileen says it is "God's will," and holds off weeping until she is alone in the darkness. Baby Robin thrives, riding on Paget's hip. Seremban lies on the railway, but trains are irregular. There Ellen Forbes disappears, probably a victim of the Japanese soldiers with whom she is too friendly. The prisoners nearly starve in...