I did not realize at first that we were high. I shall
never forget the weird kind of astonishment when the fact
came home to me that what snapped and crackled in the
snow under the horses' hoofs, were the tops of trees.
Nor shall the feeling of estrangement, as it were--as if
I were not myself, but looking on from the outside at
the adventure of somebody who yet was I--the feeling of
other-worldliness, if you will pardon the word, ever fade
from my memory--a feeling of having been carried beyond
my depth where I could not swim--which came over me when
with two quick glances to right and left I took in the
fact that there were no longer any trees to either side,
that I was above that forest world which had so often
engulfed me.
Then I drew my lines in. The horses fought against it,
did not want to stand. But I had to find my way, and
while they were going, I could not take my eyes from
them. It took a supreme effort on my part to make them
obey. At last they stood, but I had to hold them with
all my strength, and with not a second's respite. Now
that I was on top of the drift, the problem of how to
get down loomed larger than that of getting up had seemed
before.
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