six o'clock
Since middle-afternoon the dogs had dragged at times in their traces . Now they were dead-tired . Blake , and Blake alone , seemed tireless . It was six o'clock when they entered a country that was mostly plain , with a thin fringe of timber along the shores . They had raced for nine hours , and had traveled fifty miles . It was here , in a wide reach of river , that Philip gave the command to halt . His first caution was to secure Blake hand and foot , with his back resting against a frozen snow-hummock a dozen paces from the sledge .