three
o'clock in the afternoon
he cried , `` stay as you are -- only hold that expression for two minutes ! '' But I have held it from that day to this . However bright the court 's light may have appeared to the court , the place in which it was shining smelt damnably of oil . It was three o'clock in the afternoon , but already the Alaskan night had descended . The court sat in a barn , warmed from without by the heavily drifted snow and from within by the tiny flames of lanterns and the breathing of men , horses , and cows . Here and there in the outskirts of the circle of light could be seen the long face of a horse or the horned head of a cow . There was a steady sound of munching .