midnight
Last night his long legs were so tired that he did not care to visit his trap , so I offered to go instead of him . It was while I was out on this errand that I happened to meet with bruin . Our meeting was sudden and unexpected on both sides , I believe . It was midnight when I set off to the trap , which was not more than half a mile from the ship , and it was quite dark when I reached it . `` Davy is an ingenious fellow . His trap is made of four blocks of hard snow , with a sort of wooden trigger that goes off the moment the bait is touched , and allows a heavy log to fall down on the poor fox 's back . There was no fox there , however , when I reached it .