tay with my head till both were blown
away. Only my eyes could be seen; but the snow which kept flying in the
air became as fine as flour and penetrated everywhere. It got through
the open space for my eyes, then gathered on my hair, eyelashes,
eyebrows, and mustache, and on my cheeks and nose; in fact, everywhere
on my face, and made a mask of ice.

I wished I had no mustache, no eyebrows, no eyelashes, no hair--for it
was very painful every time I broke this mask of ice. It was hardly
broken when it would form again from the particles of new snow adhering
to each other. When I broke it, I thought every hair would be torn from
my face. If I had not cleared it away the mask of ice would have become
so thick that I would have been unable to see. I began to think that
there was no fun crossing the mountains after all, if this was the
weather we were going to get all the way.

As I could not overtake the people ahead, and John was not in sight,
gloomy thoughts came over me. Suppose I can find nobody, nor even a
house of refuge, I repeated: what then? What will become of me in this
terrific windstorm, in the midst of these great towering mountains that
surround me on every side? An answer to my question, as dark as my
thought, said: "Starvation! Starvation! Death! Death!"

Suddenly I thought I heard, through the storm, the same voice from the
friends at home shouting to me, "Be of good cheer, Paul; go on; go on!
No harm will befall you!"

These imaginary words had hardly been uttered when I said to myself,
"If the worst comes to the worst, and when I am on the point of
starving, I will kill my reindeer, drink its warm blood to sustain my
life, abandon my sleigh, and depend on my skees. By that time the storm
may be over, and I may meet some of the people who were with me, or
other parties who are going to the Arctic Sea."

Soon after I had reached this decision, however, I saw through the mist
something black. Was it a pack of hungry wolves? It was moving towards
me. I seized my gun; but how could I shoot in such weather and be sure
to kill? I did not fancy the idea of being attacked by a pack of hungry
and starving wolves. At any rate, I would make a desperate effort to
kill some; these would be eaten by the pack, and after they were
satisfied they would perhaps not follow me but let me alone. Perhaps I
might kill a wolf and suck his warm blood; this would avoid the need of
killing my reindeer.

No, they were not wo