CH. XXXIV. SNOW-STORM. 235 



reached home. Every moment brought us lower, and 

 we went merrily on, though with certain anxious 

 glances occasionally to windward. Nor was our 

 alarm unfounded, for just as we turned an angle of 

 the mountain, which brought us within view of the 

 shepherd's house perched on the opposite hillside, 

 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, and 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 

 geyan sharp," said the shepherd, " but we mustn'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 



