to come
upon us at this moment they might take us at a disadvantage."

From the way Sandy spoke I saw that he was not like himself. It struck
me that he was ill; or, had he expected that we should have been
attacked by the Indians during our ascent of the hill, he would have
made preparations beforehand. I, however, did not hesitate to do as he
wished, and springing forward soon climbed up among the rocks and shrubs
to the top. Before me, stretching to the westward, was a perfectly
level plain, on the edge of which I looked down on the other side over
the lower country, across which we had passed.

I could see our horses toiling upwards among the rocks and shrubs to the
top, followed by Sandy and the two other men, he having stopped to speak
to them. The sky overhead and on three sides was clear, but on looking
to the northward I observed a dense black mass which came sweeping along
at a tremendous rate towards me. Though the air had just before been
perfectly serene, on a sudden a keen cutting wind struck me with a force
which almost took me off my feet.

The next instant I was in the midst of a fearful snowstorm. The sun in
a moment became obscured, and the wind increasing rose to a perfect
hurricane. I could dimly discern two of the horses which just then had
reached the plateau. I ran towards one of them to secure it, hoping
that it was my own, but I found that it was one of the loaded animals,
and unfortunately not the one on which I had laid my coat and gun. In a
few seconds of time, so fearful had become the darkness that I could not
see three feet ahead of my nose. I shouted at the top of my voice to
the rest of the men who were, I knew, not far from me to mount their
horses and come on, allowing the others to shift for themselves.

We should all be frozen to death if we were to remain where we were.
Our only hope of safety was to reach a thick grove of trees at the
farther end, and I hoped that we might get to it before the snow became
too deep to allow the animals to move rapidly over the ground.

In vain I looked for my own horse. I could faintly hear Sandy and the
other men shouting in return to my cries, but whereabouts they were I
could not tell. I fully believed that they would all follow the course
I proposed, and as I could not discover my own animal I cut the tyings
and threw off the load from the pack-horse I had caught, then mounting
on the pack-saddle I rode off at full speed through