eight o'clock in the evening
The din was prodigious , a crackling , rustling , roaring sound , with sharp explosions and deep muffled booming . The whole air seemed to quiver with sound , and the loudest shout would have been inaudible a yard or two away . Below the ridge the river , so long as the barrier stood , was comparatively clear , but from time to time great masses of ice that had been sunk by the pressure and swept along under the ridge came to the surface with a surge that lifted one end high out of the water , reminding Godfrey of the spring of some enormous fish ; then the ice would come down with a mighty splash , and hasten away reeling and rocking on the rapid current . Entranced by this mighty conflict of the forces of nature , Godfrey stood there until seven or eight o'clock in the evening . It would be light for three hours yet , for the sun now only sank for a short time below the horizon . The rain was still falling heavily when he returned to his hut . The river had risen another thirty feet since the evening before , and the height of the bank had decreased from a hundred feet to about thirty .