The twilight had turned to night, and the clouds covered the whole circle of the heavens.

The snow, slow at first, was soon falling fast.

The soldiers brushed it off for a while, and then, feeling that it was no use, let it stay.

Ten thousand men, white as if wrapped in winding sheets, marched through the mountains.

Now and then, a thin trickle of red from a foot, encased in a shoe worn through, stained the snow.
The wind was not blowing, and the night, reinforced by the clouds, became very dark, save the gleam from the white covering of snow upon the earth.