SNOW-STORM. 293 



house perched 011 the opposite hill-side, with a good hour's 

 walk and the river between us and it, we were met by a 

 blast of wind and a shower of snow, half drifting and half 

 falling from the clouds, which took away our breath, arid 

 nearly blew us both backwards, shutting out the view of 

 everything ten yards from our faces. 



We stopped and looked at each other. " This is gey an 

 sharp," said the shepherd, " but we must n't lose a moment's 

 time, or we shall be smothered in the drift ; so come on, sir:" 

 and on we went. Bad as it was, we did not dare to stop for 

 its abating, and having fortunately seen the cottage for a 

 moment, we knew that our course for the present lay straight 

 down the mountain. After struggling on for some time we 

 came to a part of the ground which rather puzzled us, as 

 instead of being a steep slope it was perfectly flat ; a break, 

 however, in the storm allowed us to see for a moment some 

 of the birch trees on the opposite side of the river, which we 

 judged were not far from our destination. The river itself 

 we could not see, but the glimpse we had caught of the trees 

 guided us for another start, and we went onwards as rapidly 

 as we could, until the storm again closed round us with such 

 violence that we could scarcely stand upright against it. We 

 began now at times to hear the river, and we made straight 

 for the sound, knowing that it must be crossed before we 

 could reach home, arid hoping to recognize some bend or rock 

 in it which would guide us on our way. 



At last we came to the flat valley through which the 

 stream ran, but here the drift was tremendous, and it was 

 with the utmost difficulty we got to the water's edge. When 

 there, we were fairly puzzled by the changed aspect of every- 

 thing; but suddenly the evening became lighter, and the 

 drifting snow not quite so dense. We saw that we should 

 soon be able to ascertain where we were, so we halted for a 

 minute or two, stamping about to keep ourselves from freez- 

 ing. My poor dog immediately crouched at our feet, and 

 curling himself up laid down ; in a few moments he was 

 nearly covered with the snow : but the storm was evidently 

 ceasing, at any rate for a short time, and very soon a small 

 bit of blue sky appeared overhead, but in a moment it was 

 again concealed by the flying shower. The next time, how- 

 ever, that the blue sky appeared, it was for a longer period, 

 and the snow entirely ceased, allowing us to see our exact 

 position ; indeed we were very nearly opposite the house, 



