"
"Go back! of course not," said the accountant; "in a short time we
shall get into the old woodcutters' track of last year, and although
it's not beaten at all, yet it is pretty level and open, so that we
shall get on famously."
"Go on, then," sighed Hamilton.
"Drive ahead," laughed Harry, and without further delay they resumed
their march, which was soon rendered more cheerful as the clouds
rolled away, the snow ceased to fall, and the bright full moon poured
its rays down upon their path.
For a long time they proceeded in silence, the muffled sound of the
snow, as it sank beneath their regular footsteps, being the only
interruption to the universal stillness around. There is something
very solemnizing in a scene such as we are now describing--the calm
tranquillity of the arctic night; the pure whiteness of the snowy
carpet, which rendered the dark firs inky black by contrast; the
clear, cold, starry sky, that glimmered behind the dark clouds, whose
heavy masses, now rolling across the moon, partially obscured the
landscape, and anon, passing slowly away, let a flood of light down
upon the forest, which, penetrating between the thick branches,
scattered the surface of the snow, as it were, with flakes of silver.
Sleep has often been applied as a simile to nature in repose, but in
this case death seemed more appropriate. So silent, so cold, so still
was the scene, that it filled the mind with an indefinable feeling of
dread, as if there was some mysterious danger near.
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