e
of the caloric from the human system, at the height of six or seven
thousand feet above the sea, and in the latitude of forty-six, is, under
the most favorable circumstances, frequently of itself the source of
inconvenience; but here were grave additional reasons to heighten the
danger. The absence of the sun's rays alone left a sense of chilling cold,
and a few hours of night were certain to bring frost, even at midsummer.
Thus it is that storms of trifling import in themselves gain power over
the human frame, by its reduced means of resistance, and when to this fact
is added the knowledge that the elements are far fiercer in their workings
in the upper than in the nether regions of the earth, the motives of
Pierre's concern will be better understood by the reader than they
probably wese by himself, though the honest guide had a long and severe
experience to supply the place of theory.

Men are rarely loquacious in danger. The timid recoil into themselves,
yielding most of their faculties to a tormenting imagination, that
augments the causes of alarm and diminishes the means of security, while
the firm of mind rally and condense their powers to the point necessary to
exertion. Such were the effects in the present instance, on those who
followed Pierre. A general and deep silence pervaded the party, each one
seeing their situation in the colors most suited to his particular habits
and character. The men, without an exception, were grave and earnest in
their efforts to force the mules forward; Adelheid became pale, but she
preserved her calmness by the sheer force of character; Christine was
trembling and dependent, though cheered by the presence of, and her
confidence in, Sigismund; while the attendants of the heiress of Willading
covered their heads, and followed their mistress with the blind faith in
their superiors that is apt to sustain people of their class in serious
emergencies.

Ten minutes sufficed entirely to change the aspect of the view. The frozen
element could not adhere to the iron-like and perpendicular faces of the
mountains, but the glens, and ravines, and valleys became as white as the
peak of Velan. Still Pierre continued his silent and upward march, in a
way to keep alive a species of trembling hope among those who depended so
helplessly upon his intelligence and faith. They wished to believe that
the snow was merely one of those common occurrences that were to be
expected on the summits of the A