two o'clock
When they got up to them the men were puzzled , each was so like its neighbour , and Stephen declared he had forgotten the number , though Bill had given it to him . `` Well , try any one , '' said Talbot , impatiently , as Stephen stopped bewildered . They were standing on the side-walk , now a slippery arch of ice , between two rows of the low black cabins . There was no light in any of them ; it was two o'clock ; the moon alone shone up and down the street . Talbot felt his moustache freezing to his face , and his left eye being rapidly closed by the lashes freezing together , and that 's enough to make a man impatient . Stephen did not move , and Talbot went up himself to the nearest cabin and knocked at the door . They waited a long time , but at last a hand fumbled with the catch inside , and the door was opened a little way ; through the crack came out a stream of warm air , the fumes of tobacco and wood smoke ; within was darkness .