Here the snow had drifted several feet high between the fences, and the travellers could only advance step by step. After an hour's efforts the horses were completely worn out, and stopped every few paces.
Bertel, absorbed in his thoughts, was scarcely conscious of it. They had left Kyro's wide plains behind them, and were now in the midst of Lappo's thick woods. The silence of the wilderness, interrupted by the wailing of the storm, surrounded the travellers on all sides, and as far as the eye could reach there were no traces of human habitations.
Pekka had for a time walked by the side of the sleigh, and with his broad shoulders lifted it up again, when it sank so deep in the snow that the horses' strength was insufficient to move it from the spot.
Finally his sinewy arms also refused their services, and the sleigh stopped right in the midst of a mountain of snow.
"Well!" exclaimed Bertel impatiently, "what is the matter?"
"Nothing," replied Pekka stolidly, "except that we need neither priest nor undertaker to find us a grave."
"How far is it from here to the nearest farm?"
"Between six and seven miles, I think."
"Do you not see something resembling a light, far away there in the woods?"
"Yes, yes, it looks like it..."