268 A SPORTING PARADISE 



fiendish hurricane vanished almost as quickly as 

 it had burst upon us ; but the wind rising, caught 

 up the snow, and hurled it on its way in blinding, 

 whirling eddies. 



This snow penetrated everything, neither 

 clothing nor sheltering tree could resist it, it 

 blinded our eyes, filled our nostrils, and clogged 

 the lungs. In a rew minutes we were both 

 encased in its freezing folds, and, notwithstanding 

 our muffled necks and thick fur-collars, cold 

 streams of water trickled down our backs. The 

 noise and din were such that neither could hear 

 the other speak, and the storm, raging round 

 our faces, shut out all recognisable forms. 

 Plunging onward, we both became lost to view 

 in the dense white clouds of snowy dust. An 

 overwhelming desire to sleep took possession or 

 me, though I knew that such a longing, if 

 gratified, would mean certain death. More than 

 once I stumbled and fell, having no energy to 

 rise, and unable to narrate the circumstances that 

 found me once more battling on. In this half- 

 blinded and stupefied state I continued for about 

 an hour, feeling more dead than alive, and moving 

 mechanically like some piece of clockwork 

 machinery. The ground was in places almost 



