1822-05-16+James'+Journal

Dear Journal,

Another harrowing night has transpired. The good news is that we have found what we are looking for, the mice, that is also precisely the problem. While I had a very pleasurable time last night, Isacc and Ichabod, went off and through a series of events still unknown to me, killed one of them. But before I could get to it for the purposes of any scientific study they drained the thing of blood, and all my potential research data was gone! It seems to me that this research project might be more difficult that I had previously thought. To make matters worse, I think I may have been bitten by one of these mice myself, thought I can't be sure (I may have just had a really good night). Thank goodness I'm still alive. This is current approximately 8 hours after the altercation, and my breathing and perspiration all seem to be normal. I seem to have survived the night and so I think I should be able to survive the daylight, though there's know telling what unknown effect a bite might have down the road.

Soon we must find, or build, a secure location for our research. Building would perhaps be better, though somewhat time consuming, and if we can manage to keep from creating a well-defined path there, a shelter out in the forest might be very difficult for others to uncover. We might be able to mask it as a hunter's cabin too, if necessary. It is absolutely imperative that nobody sees this research.