16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
A second thunder-clap, a triple roar several
times repeated, and first the wind and then the
snow engulfed them. Stephen, who weighed
no great matter, was thrust first forward, then
violently back, then plucked bodily up and
flung against a rock. For a while he could see
nothing, and crouched there shielding his face
so that he should not breathe the flying powdered
snow. Eduardo, who like the llama had
thrown himself down at the first blast, found
him, passed the tether round his waist and
told him to hold on and keep moving for the
love of God – Eduardo knew the path perfectly
well – they would reach the snow-line
and move on bent low – much easier up there
– no hard falling – and the top of the pass
would be blown clear.
But it was not. When at last they had beaten
their slow, gasping way up through the roaring,
uneven wind in the increasing darkness