An ill-judged but quite natural flounder and wriggle, such as a newly-landed flat-fish gives upon the sand, completed the mischief, and with one piercing but swiftly stifled yell, I vanished.
Any one who has ever sunk in deep water will know that the sensation is not pleasant, but I can assure him that to go through the same experience in soft snow is infinitely worse; mud alone could surpass its terrors.

Down I went, and down, till at length I seemed to reach a rock which alone saved me from disappearing for ever.

Now I felt the snow closing above me and with it came darkness and a sense of suffocation.
So soft was the drift, however, that before I was overcome I contrived with my arms to thrust away the powdery dust from about my head, thus forming a little hollow into which air filtered slowly.

Getting my hands upon the stone, I strove to rise, but could not, the weight upon me was too great.
Then I abandoned hope and prepared to die.

The process proved not altogether unpleasant.