about
four o'clock
It was amazing to see what a quantity of wood the rough fireplace consumed . `` If we had acres of diamond beds we could n't afford such fires in town , '' Maurice remarked . The next day the weather cleared , but turned bitterly cold . In the afternoon Maurice ventured out to look for game , and came back about four o'clock with three spruce grouse and a frost-bitten nose . The boys were all standing outside the cabin door , when Fred suddenly started . Round the bend a sledge had just appeared on the river . It was drawn by six dogs , coming at a flagging trot through the deep snow ; four men on snowshoes ran behind and beside it .