an hour before noon
There would have been a sublime solemnity in these rude words of a rude man of action if Sim had divined that they were in fact the meditations of one who believed himself to be already under the shadow of his death . * * * * * The horses broke again into a canter , and it was long before the reins of the riders brought them to another pause . The day was bitterly cold , and , notwithstanding the exertion of riding , Sim 's teeth chattered sometimes as with ague , and his fingers were numb and stiff . It was an hour before noon when the travellers left Kendal , and now they had ridden for two hours . The brighter clouds of the morning had disappeared , and a dull , leaden sky was overhead . Gradually the heavy atmosphere seemed to close about them , yet a cutting wind blew smartly from the east . `` A snowstorm is coming , Sim .