" The Connecticut River
March 2, 1704
Temperature 10 degrees

At the crunch of footsteps they looked up, and then they stopped talking. Ruth was dangerous, not because of her habit of throwing things, but because every word she spoke was upsetting. They had begun to see that part of survival was staying calm, and Ruth could not be calm. Even the way she sat down next to them, flouncing her skirt and whipping her cloak, was angry.
Nobody asked what she was angry about now. She probably felt they shouldn’t have eaten Indian meat. "

― Caroline B. Cooney , The Ransom of Mercy Carter