three o'clock
The gun was never seen again ; and , though Jim had good store of ammunition , he now had no weapon of any sort or kind , save ax and whip . This was the reason why the presence of large packs of hungry wolves annoyed him and made him anxious to reach a Peace River station as speedily as might be . He carried a fair stock of moose-meat , but accidents might happen , and in any case , apart from the presence of hungry wolves in large numbers , no man cares to be without weapons of precision in the wilderness , for it is these which more than any other thing give him his mastery over the predatory of the wild . Just before three o'clock in an afternoon of still , intense cold , when daylight was fading out , the narrow devious watercourse whose frozen surface had formed Willis 's trail for many a mile , brought him at last to a bend of the Peace River from which he knew he could reach a settlement within four or five days of good traveling . Therefore his arrival at this point was of more interest and importance to Willis than any ordinary camping halt . But it struck him as curious that Jan should show the interest he did show in it . `` Seems like as if that blame dog knows everything , '' he muttered as he saw Jan trotting to and fro over the trail , his flews sweeping the trodden snow with eager , questing gestures , his stern waving as with excitement of some sort .