It had snowed all day since mid-morning.

 

The stage coach soon merged with a herd of buffalo and driving became slow. On all sides of the coach there were hundreds of adult buffs and their calves tromping along slowly in the snow. The temperature had been dropping by the hour and the wind was cuttin through like a new saw.

 

Snow, ice, and icicles covered the coach. The passengers were all bundled up to their eyeballs and huddled together for warmth. Whiplash and Cole fought back chattering teeth while catching the full-force of the snow-laden wind up on the driver's bench....

 

The good part was that Jackson was visible on the trail below.

 

Cole had welcomed the cold at first because it kept Miss Fancy from constantly buggin' him while he was driving. Now he, like everyone else on board, was desperate for a warm fire, hot food, and a long winter's night sleep.

 

"We'll be eatin hot chili con carne and drinkin' fresh coffee in about an hour, kid" said Whiplash, noticing that Cole had clearly had enough of freezin his ass off for one day.