three o'clock
At the end of half an hour Father Roland halted the team again to give him a `` winding '' spell . Baree had come nearer . He was not more than a quarter of a mile behind . It was three o'clock when they struck off the lake into the edge of the forest to the northwest . The sun had grown cold and pale . The snow crystals no longer sparkled so furiously . In the forest there was gathering a gray , silent gloom .