The horses, in their wise instinct, keeping still, Hemstead first came round to where Lottie stood.
"Why, Miss Marsden!" he exclaimed, "you are up to your waist in the snow."
"Well, it won't drown me. This is a great deal better than rolling down the mountain."
"I could kneel at your feet," said the student, fervently.
"Ha, ha, ha," laughed Lottie. "You couldn't find them."
"This is no laughing matter," said De Forrest, at last aroused to their danger, and standing up for the first time.
"Then get out and do something, like Miss Marsden," said Hemstead.
"Come, right up the sleigh while I look after the horses."
A little later he came back to Lottie, and said: "Miss Marsden, I scarcely dare tell you the truth. The tongue of the sleigh and some of the most important parts of the harness are broken. Besides, I have been up the road a short distance, and there are drifts that are up to the horses' necks. I fear we can go no farther. O God!" he added in agony, "what can I do for you? The idea of your perishing with cold in this horrible place to-night!"
Lottie laid her hand upon his arm, and said earnestly; "Mr. Hemstead, please let there be no more such talk. It's no worse for me than for you. Besides, if we will trust God and use our wits, there is no need of any one's perishing. If we were out of the wind it would not be so very cold. Why, there is enough warmth in the big bodies of those horses to keep us from freezing, if it comes to the worst."
"There!" he exclaimed, "you have given me hope and courage, and in a sentence. The coachman was captain on my former occasion of danger, and you shall be captain now. You have the clearest and best head of the party. I am at your service."