Hazard Pass had held true to its name.

There were yet nearly four miles to go before the summit of nearly twelve thousand feet elevation could be reached and the downward trip of fourteen miles to the nearest settlement made.

And that meant-- Houston steadied himself and sought to figure just what it did mean.
The sun was gone now, leaving grayness and blackness behind, accentuated by the single strip of gleaming scarlet which flashed across the sky above the brim of Mount Taluchen, the last vestige of daylight.

The wind was growing shriller and sharper, as though it had waited only for the sinking of the sun to loose the ferocity which too long had been imprisoned.

Darkness came, suddenly, seeming to sweep up from the valleys toward the peaks, and with it more snow.