The darkness did not abate.

The wind rose instead of falling, and the snow thickened.

It lay on the plain several inches deep, and the walking grew harder.

At last the two, the boy and the horse, stopped.

Ned knew that they had come into some kind of a depression, and the full force of the hurricane passed partly over their heads.
It was yet very dark, and the driving snow scarcely permitted him to open his eyes, but by feeling about a little he found that one side of the dip was covered with a growth of dwarf bushes.