To add to the horror of this conviction, each member
of the party, not excepting the muleteers, was painfully conscious of the
escape of that vital warmth whose total flight was death.
In this strait all dismounted. They felt that the occasion was one of
extreme jeopardy, that nothing could save them but resolution, and that
every minute of time was getting to be of the last importance. Each
female, Adelheid included, was placed between two of the other sex, and,
supported in this manner, Pierre called loudly and in a manful voice for
the whole to proceed. The beasts were driven after them by one of the
muleteers.
The progress of travellers, feeble as Adelheid and her companions, on a
stony path of very uneven surface, and of a steep ascent, the snow
covering the feet, and the tempest cutting their faces, was necessarily
slow, and to the last degree toilsome. Still, the exertion increased the
quickness of the blood, and, for a short time, there was an appearance of
recalling those who most suffered to life. Pierre, who still kept his post
with the hardihood of a mountaineer, and the fidelity of a Swiss, cheered
them on with his voice, continuing to raise the hope that the place of
refuge was at hand.
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