'Where I shall not be sorry to be,' thought David, as he watched their figures near the fire. 'I could never believe that a snowstorm could be such a severe affair. That wind absolutely wearied me, so that I feel downright tired. However, a good sleep will make me fresh and fit again. Wonder how things are going outside.'
He went to the opening, and pushed back the edge of one of the tents. Flakes were still falling, but the wind seemed to have dropped with as much suddenness as it had arisen. More than that, the sky was clear, and was filled with thousands of bright, twinkling stars.
'Promising well for to-morrow,' he thought, 'though it won't be very easy travelling with this heavy fall on the ground. Perhaps we shall have to wait a little.'
As it turned out, the snow continued to sprinkle the ground all that night, and well on towards the following evening, so that David's little party remained in their snug quarters all day, save for a short excursion when they took the ponies out by couples and walked them up and down, allowing them to thrust their noses through the soft snow, and so obtain a few blades of grass.
'Fleezing hard now, sar,' said Jong, as the dusk fell. 'Dat be good for us, 'cos it harden de snow and let us get along easy. Not able to walkee much when de snow soft. It stick to de feet, and makee balls at de bottom of the ponies' hoofs. Fleeze to-night, den get away easy to-mollow.'
As it turned out, however, the movements of the party were not to be so straightforward a matter as Jong anticipated; for though it froze very hard that evening, as it can freeze in the north of China, the night brought more than intense cold with it. David's was the middle watch, and he was standing near the fire, struggling to keep himself fully awake, when of a sudden a distant sound fell on his ear. He listened intently, and then went to the opening. At once a faint whimpering sound came from a point some little way distant. He fancied he heard something remarkably like a loud snarling, while as he watched he was almost sure that he caught sight of several sneaking forms passing to and fro outside, like black shadows crossing the snow.
'Come and look out into the open,' he asked of Jong, whose turn it was to take the next watch. 'There is something there, but what I am not sure. Come and listen.'