A Night in the Snow | Page 5

After a while I became aware that the ground under my feet was
of a wrong shape, sloping downwards when it should have been level,
and I then knew that I had missed my way. This, however, gave me no
great uneasiness, as I imagined that I had only gone a little too much to
the south of the wood, and that I should soon reach an inhabited district
at the bottom of it, known as Bullock's Moor, from which a somewhat
circuitous route would bring me safely home. Under this impression I
walked cheerfully on, but only for a few steps further. Suddenly my
feet flew from under me, and I found myself shooting at a fearful pace
down the side of one of the steep ravines which I had imagined lay far
away to my right. I thought to check myself by putting my stick behind
me, and bearing heavily upon it in the manner usual under such
circumstances in Alpine travelling. Before, however, I could do so I
came in contact with something which jerked it out of my hand and

turned me round, so that I continued my tremendous glissade head
downwards, lying on my back.
The pace I was going in this headlong descent must have been very
great, yet it seemed to me to occupy a marvellous space of time, long
enough for the events of my whole previous life to pass in review
before me, as I had often before heard that they did in moments of
extreme peril. I never lost my consciousness, but had time to think
much of those I should leave behind me, expecting every moment as I
did to be dashed over the rocks at the bottom of the ravine; knew in fact
that such must be my fate, unless I could stop myself by some means.
Owing to the softness of the snow, I contrived to accomplish this by
kicking my foot as deep into the snow as I could, and at the same time
bending my knee with a smart muscular effort, so as to make a hook of
my leg; this brought me to a stand still, but my position was anything
but agreeable even then, hanging head downwards on a very steep part,
and never knowing any moment but what I might start again. With
much difficulty, however, I at length succeeded in getting myself the
right way up, and then descended with great care to the bottom of the
ravine, intending if possible to walk along the course of the stream in
its hollow till it should lead me to the enclosed country. The ravine,
however, was so choked up with snow, that to walk along the valley
was utterly impossible. The drifts were many feet over my head, in
several places they must have been at least twenty feet in depth; and
having once got into them, I had the greatest difficulty, by scratching
and struggling, to extricate myself from them again. It was now dark. I
did not know into which of the ravines I had fallen, for at this part there
is a complete network of them intersecting each other in every direction.
The only way by which I had thought to escape was hopelessly blocked
up, and I had to face the awful fact that I was lost among the hills,
should have to spend the night there, and that, humanly speaking, it
was almost impossible that I could survive it.
The instinct of self-preservation, however, is strong, even when a
fearful death seems close at hand, and there were others for whose sake,
even more than my own, I desired that night that my life might be
spared, if such were God's will. I knew that, under Providence, all

depended on my own powers of endurance, and that the struggle for life
must be a very severe one. The depth of the snow made walking a very
exhausting effort. It was always up to my knees, more often up to my
waist; but my only chance, as I was well aware, was to keep moving;
and having extricated myself at last from the drifts in the ravine, I
began to climb the opposite side of the hill, though I had not the least
idea in which direction I ought to go. As I made my way upwards, I
saw just in front of me what looked like a small shadow flitting about,
for owing to the white ground it was never completely dark. I was
much surprised at this, especially as when I came close to it, it
disappeared into the snow, with the exception of one round dark spot,
which remained motionless. I put my hand down upon this dark object
to ascertain what it could possibly be, and