We continue to move stealthily. Fear. It is perpetually with us. We need physical and mental stamina too. We must be strong in body, mind and will. No sign of weakness must be shown, or we might be left behind. We must not impede the rest of the group. We must move together. I am reminded of the stories about the plantation workers who were brought to our island two hundred years or more ago. Brought from south India in their hundreds in ships. Disembarking at Talaimannar, they made the long trek from the north, through thick, animal-infested jungles, to the central highlands to work on the tea estates. So many died on the way of cholera, dysentery, malaria. Many were left behind to be attacked by wild bear and leopards or to grow weaker and weaker and die, leaving their skeletons as new landmarks on that terrifying journey. And of those who reached the central highlands, many hundreds died of fever, chills, pneumonia in those mist-veiled mountains. Always the weak have had to succumb …. No, we must keep up our strength. There is no letting go even for a moment. And always to remember that we are a group. Numbers. Each of us is a number. The numerals reverberate in our minds: sixteen of us, seventeen with the guide. No one should go missing.