eight o'clock
The hours went by , and still she did not come , and still the storm worsened . The wind was not very high , but the air was full of a fine , powdery , drifting snow ; the night seemed full of snow ; snow fell down the chimney and drifted in under the door . My uncle was too lame with sciatica to leave his bed ; and my aunt , always a woman of poor spirit , was afraid of the night . At eight o'clock I could stand it no longer , so I said that I would saddle the pony , and ride out along the Salcombe road to find her . Hugh was for going in my place ; but Hugh was not so strongly built as I , and I felt that Hugh would faint after an hour in the cold , I put on double clothes , with an oilskin jacket over all , and then lit the lantern , and beat out of the house to the stable . I put one or two extra candles in my pockets , with a flint and steel , and some bread and meat Something prompted me to take a hank of cord , and a heavy old boat-rug ; and with all these things upon him old Greylegs , the pony , was heavy-laden . When we got into the road together , I could not see a yard in front of me .