captured it.

Snow in considerable quantities lay here and there around them in the
form of old patches or drifts, and this began to be swept up by the
fierce wind in spite of its solidity. Soon new snow began to fall, and,
mingling with the old drifts, rendered the air so thick that it was
sometimes difficult to see more than a few yards in advance. Lawrence,
being unused to such scenes, began to fear they should get lost in these
awful solitudes, and felt specially anxious for Manuela, who, despite
the vigour of a frame trained, as it no doubt had been, in all the
hardihood incidental to Indian camp life, seemed to shrink from the
fierce blast and to droop before the bitter cold.

"Here, put on my poncho," said the youth, riding suddenly up to the
girl's side and unceremoniously flinging his ample garment over the
slight poncho she already wore. She drew it round her at once, and
silently accepted the offering with a smile and an inclination of her
small head which, even in these uncomfortable circumstances, were full
of grace.

"Why _was_ she born a savage?" thought the youth, with almost petulant
exasperation. "If she had only been white and civilised, I would have
wooed and won--at least," he added, modestly, "I would have _tried_ to
win and wed her in spite of all the opposing world. As it is, the--
the--gulf is impassable!"

"You have anticipated me, senhor," said the guide, who had reined in
until the rest of the party overtook him. "I had halted with the
intention of offering my poncho to Manuela. Poor girl, she is a
daughter of the warm Pampas, and unused to the cold of the mountains."

He turned to her, and said something in the Indian tongue which seemed
to comfort her greatly, for she replied with a look and tone of
satisfaction.

"I have just told her," he said to Lawrence, as they resumed the
journey, "that in half an hour we shall reach a hut of shelter. It is
at the foot of a steep descent close ahead; and as the wind is
fortunately on our backs, we shall be partially protected by the hill."

"Surely the place cannot be a farm," said Lawrence; "it must be too high
up for that."

"No, as you say, it is too high for human habitation. The hut is one of
those places of refuge which have been built at every two or three
leagues to afford protection to travellers when assailed by such
snow-storms as that which is about to break on us now."

He stopped, for the party came at the moment to a