seven in the morning
At length Sergeant Lane got up and shook the snow from his blanket . `` I 've seen a better fire , boys , but I 've camped with none at all on as cold a night , '' he said . `` So far as I can figure , we have grub enough , but now there are three more of us we do n't want to lose time . You 'll be ready to pull out by seven in the morning . '' They lay down in the most comfortable places they could find , though the choice was limited , and spent the night in comfort , though Harding was once awakened by a dog that crept up to him for warmth . It was getting light next morning when the reinforced party entered a belt of thicker timber where they first clearly realized the fury of the storm . The trees were small and sprang from a frozen muskeg so that they could not be uprooted , but the gale had snapped the trunks and laid them low in swaths .