THE HILL OF THE STRARENCHES THERE Is no denying it was a beast of a day. Overhead was a sunless sky, muffled in clouds that were heavy with snow; underfoot, a black frost; blowing over it, a wind that felt as if it would take your skin off. When they got down into the plain they found that this part of the a road was much more ruinous than any they had yet seen. They had to pick their way reat broken stones aween boulders and across rubble: hard going for sore feet. And, however tired they got, it was far too cold for a halt.
At about ten oclock the first tiny snow flakes came l down and settled on Jills arm. Ten minutes later they were falling quite thickly. Iy mihe ground was noticeably white. And by the end of half an hood steady snowstorm, which looked as if it meant to last all day, was driving in their faces so that they could hardly see.
In order to uand what followed, you must keep on remembering how little they could see. As they drew he low hill which separated them from the place where the lighted windopeared, they had no general view of it at all. It was a question of seeing the few paces ahead, and, even for that, you had to screw up your eyes.
Needless to say, they were not talking.
When they reached the foot of the hill they caught a glimpse of what might be rocks on each side - squarish rocks, if you looked at them carefully, but no one did. All were more ed with the ledge right in front of them which barred their way. It was about four feet high. The Marsh-wiggle, with his long legs, had no difficulty in jumping onto the top of it, ahen helped the others up. It was a nasty wet business for them, though not for him, because the snow now lay quite deep on the ledge. They then had a stiff climb - Jill fell once - up very rough ground for about a hundred yards, and came to a sed ledge. There were four of these ledges altogether, at quite irregular intervals.
As they struggled on to the fourth ledge, there was no mistaking the fact that they were now at the top of the flat hill. Up till now the slope had given them some shelter; here, they got the full fury of the wind. For the hill, oddly enough, was quite as flat on top as it had looked from a distance: a great level tableland which the storm tore across without
resistance. In most places the snow was still hardly lying at all, for the wi catg it up off the ground is and clouds, and hurling it in their faces. And round their feet little eddies of snow ran about as you sometimes see them doing over ice. And, indeed, in many places, the surface was almost as smooth as ice. But to make matters worse it was crossed and crisscrossed with curious banks or dykes, whietimes divided it up into squares and oblongs. All these of course had to be climbed; they varied from two to five feet i and were about a couple of yards thick. On the north side of each bank the snow already lay in deep drifts; and after each climb you came down into a drift and got wet.
Fighting her way forward with hood up and head down and numb hands inside her cloak, Jill had glimpses of other odd things on that horrible tableland - things on her right that looked vaguely like factory eys, and, on her left, a huge cliff, straighter than any cliff ought to be. But she wasnt at all ied and didnt give them a thought. The only things she thought about were her cold hands (and nose and and ears) and hot baths and beds at Harfang.