234 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CIT. XXXIV. 



a few moments was on terra firma, while a vast 

 mass of snow which I had set in motion rolled like 

 an avalanche over the precipice, carrying with it 

 the unfortunate ptarmigan. 



I cannot describe my sensations on seeing the 

 danger which I had so narrowly escaped : however, 

 no time was to be lost, and we descended the moun- 

 tain at a far quicker rate than we had gone up it. 

 The wind rose rapidly, moaning mournfully through 

 the passes of the mountain, and frequently carrying 

 with it dense showers of snow. The thickest of 

 these showers, however, fell above where we were, 

 and the wind still came from behind us, though 

 gradually veering round in a manner which plainly 

 showed us that it would be right ahead before we 

 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 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, and nearly 

 blew us both backwards, shutting out the view of 

 everything ten yards from our faces. 



