They had been
worsted at every point, and seemed to be aware of it.
It was a strange experience for Tom, this trudge over the hard,
frozen snow, with his two cowled and gowned companions. It seemed
to him afterwards like a vision of the night, full of a strange
oppression and pain. He started forth with undiminished strength,
as he thought; but ere long he felt as though leaden weights were
fastened to his feet, as though some strange, uncanny beast were
seated upon his chest, impeding his breathing, and paralyzing his
heart. The smart of his raw back became more and more intolerable
with every mile, and the awful whiteness of the moon upon the
limitless plains of snow seemed to make the whole expanse reel and
dance before his giddy eyes.
How the last part of the journey was performed, and what befell him
when he reached the monastery, he never afterwards remembered. As a
matter of fact, he was already in the grip of a burning fever; and
for weeks he lay sick upon his pallet bed, tended by the kindly
monks. Indeed, the spring had penetrated even to those rugged
heights ere he had recovered strength enough to think of travelling
once more; and Lord Claud had come to seek him, and bring him word
of his own successful journey with the despatches of the Duke.
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