o increase in violence. As
the night wore on I found my poor horse advancing at a slower and slower
pace, showing how fatigued it had become, while I had scarcely strength
left to move forward; still I was afraid to halt. At last it stopped
altogether, and I myself felt utterly exhausted. Further it was
impossible to go, but how to endure the cold and keep the blood
circulating in my veins was the question. It seemed to me that I must
inevitably perish; still I resolved to make an effort to preserve my
life.

My horse was standing stock-still, with its back to the wind. I
bethought me that the only chance I had of retaining existence was to
dig a hole in the snow, in which I might crouch down, and wait till the
storm was over. I set desperately to work. While so employed, the
drift eddying around my head nearly suffocated me; still I persevered.

Having dug down to the ground, I took off the pack-saddle from the
horse's back, which I placed as a cushion below me, and then putting the
saddle-cloth over my shoulders I crouched down in the hole I had made,
which I could not help dreading was more likely to prove my grave than
to afford any efficient shelter.

I knew for certain that, should I fall asleep, death would ensue, and
that I must exert all my energies to keep awake. I had not been long
seated, doubled up in my burrow like a mummy, before I felt the cold
begin to steal over me. My feet were the first to suffer. I tried to
keep them warm by moving them about, but it was of no use.

At last I took off my frozen shoes, and tucked my feet under me on the
pack-saddle; then I rubbed them as hard as I could. I was tempted at
last to take the horsecloth off my shoulders, and to wrap my feet up in
it, but all was of no use. They appeared to me to be frozen, while my
whole body seemed changing into ice. At last I had scarcely strength to
move either my hands or feet. During this time the inclination to sleep
almost overcame me. I struggled against it with all the resolution I
possessed. I was perfectly well aware that, should I give way to it,
death would be the consequence.

I took every means I could think of to keep awake. I shouted; I even
sang, or rather I tried to sing; but the most melancholy strains were
the only results of my efforts, my voice sounding as hollow as that from
a skull--if voices ever do come out of skulls, on which subject I
venture to be sceptical.

I kept moving from side to