Sometimes it
snows, and we are like wandering ghosts.
One afternoon of a cold winter's day, when the sun shone forth with chilly brightness, after a long storm, two children asked leave of their mother to run out and play in the new-fallen
snow. The elder child was a little girl, whom, because she was of a tender and modest disposition, and was thought to be very beautiful, her parents, and other people who were familiar with her, used to call Violet.
The bear said: 'Here, children, knock the
snow out of my coat a little'; so they brought the broom and swept the bear's hide clean; and he stretched himself by the fire and growled contentedly and comfortably.
Then a tiny icicle detached itself from the roof, and dropped into the woman's mouth, who swallowed it with a smile, and said, 'Perhaps I shall give birth to a
snow child now!' Her husband laughed at his wife's strange idea, and they went back into the house.
The tracks left by the sledge-runners were immediately covered by
snow and the road was only distinguished by the fact that it was higher than the rest of the ground.
"Well, in plain words, it's just that nothin' what ever has happened, has happened right in Mis'
Snow's eyes.
The trees, burdened with the last infinitesimal pennyweight of
snow their branches could hold, stood in absolute petrifaction.
"Now if I were not in Natal, I should say that there was a heavy fall of
snow coming," said the White Man to himself.
"Can the
Snow Queen come in?" said the little girl.
Valparaiso -- Portillo Pass -- Sagacity of Mules -- Mountain- torrents -- Mines, how discovered -- Proofs of the gradual Elevation of the Cordillera -- Effect of
Snow on Rocks -- Geological Structure of the two main Ranges, their distinct Origin and Upheaval -- Great Subsidence -- Red
Snow -- Winds -- Pinnacles of
Snow -- Dry and clear Atmosphere -- Electricity -- Pampas -- Zoology of the opposite Side of the Andes -- Locusts -- Great Bugs -- Mendoza -- Uspallata Pass -- Silicified Trees buried as they grew -- Incas Bridge -- Badness of the Passes exaggerated -- Cumbre -- Casuchas -- Valparaiso.
"So I can fire when I like!" said Pierre, and at the word "three," he went quickly forward, missing the trodden path and stepping into the deep
snow. He held the pistol in his right hand at arm's length, apparently afraid of shooting himself with it.
She had set out at an early hour, but had lingered on the road, inclined by her indolence to believe that if she waited under a warm shed the
snow would cease to fall.