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In fact, just about the ti

unharnessed frohts of Mount Brenner, the hired

carriage stopped before a little inn under the toall of Innspruck

hard by the bridge And half an hour later, when the Prince was sitting

down to his supper before a blazing fire and thanking his stars that on

so gusty and wild a night he had a stout roof above his head, a man and

a woman came out from the little tavern under the toall and

disappeared into the darkness They had the streets to themselves, for

that night the city was a whirlpool of the winds Each separate chase a separate blast The

winds swept down into the hollow and charged in a riotous combat about

the squares and lanes; at each corner was an ambuscade, and everywhere

they clashed with artilleries of hail and sleet

The ered hand in hand and floundered in the deep

snow They were soaked to the skin, frozen by the cold, and whipped by

the stinging hail Though they bent their heads and bodies, though they

clung hand in hand, though they struggled with all their strength,

there were times when they could not advance a foot and must needs wait

for a lull in the shelter of a porch At such tiil about the cave of the winds, and the