Then the sun gave up its feeble attempts, the clouds closed in entirely, the wind began to blow hard, and with it came a blinding snow, and then a bitter hail.
Harry had been sent by Jackson to the right flank with orders and he was to remain there, unless it became necessary to inform the commander that some regiment was not doing its duty.

But he found them all marching forward, and, falling in with the Invincibles, he marched with them.
Yet it was impossible for the lines to retain cohesion or regularity, so fierce was the beat of the storm.
It was an alternation of blinding snow and of hail that fairly stung.
Often the officers could not see the men thirty yards distant, and there was no way of knowing whether the army was marching forward in the complete half circle as planned.

Regiments might draw apart, leaving wide gaps between, and no one would know it in all that hurricane.
Harry rode by the side of Colonel Leonidas Talbot and Lieutenant-Colonel Hector St.Hilaire, who were leading the Invincibles in person.

Both had gray military cloaks drawn around them, but Harry saw that they were shivering with cold as they sat on their horses, with the snow accumulating on their shoulders and on the saddles around them.

In truth, the foot cavalry had rather the better of it, as the hard marching kept up the circulation.
"Not much like the roses of Charleston," said Colonel Talbot, faintly smiling.
"But I'm glad to be here," said Harry, "although I will admit, sir, that I did not expect a campaign to the North Pole." "Neither did I, but I'm prepared for anything now, under the commander that we have.