midday
Come ! '' * * * * * Three years passed . The great lakes south of the headwaters of the Mackenzie River were again frozen . Darkness claimed the land except when the brilliant low-swinging moon lighted the heavens and snowy earth below , and the sun for a few brief hours consented to coldly shine upon the denizens of the wilderness at midday . A gang of miners worked like beavers in the bed of the stream . With fires they thawed the ground , after having diverted the creek waters the previous summer . Their camp was a large one .