about noon
All the time the conversation had been going on the snow had fallen heavily , and before it was concluded the clearing was covered deep with the white mantle . There was little wind , and the snow fell quietly and noiselessly . At night the Indians lay down round the fire , while the white men crept under the canoes and were soon fast asleep . In the morning it was still snowing , but about noon it cleared up . It was freezing hard , and the snow glistened as the sun burst through the clouds . The stillness of the forest was broken now by sharp cracking sounds as boughs of trees gave way under the weight of the snow ; in the open it lay more than two feet deep . `` Now , '' Peter said , `` the sooner we 're off the better . ''