Light clouds began to gather on the top of all the hills and to shut the mountain peaks entirely from view.

The wind moaned between the gorges and occasionally swept along in such sudden gusts that they could with difficulty retain their feet.

The sky became gradually overcast, and frequently light specks of snow, so small as to be scarcely perceptible, were driven along on the blast, making their faces smart by the force with which they struck them.
"It scarcely needs our guide's face," Cuthbert said, "to tell us that a storm is at hand, and that our position is a dangerous one.

As for me, I own that I feel better pleased now that the wind is blowing, and the silence is broken, than at the dead stillness which prevailed this morning.

After all, methinks that a snowstorm cannot be more dreaded than a sandstorm, and we have faced those before now." Faster and faster the snow came down, until at last the whole air seemed full of it, and it was with difficulty that they could stagger forward.
Where the path led across open places the wind swept away the snow as fast as it fell, but in the hollows the track was already covered; and feeling the difficulty of facing the blinding gale, Cuthbert now understood the urgency with which his host had insisted upon the danger of losing the track.