five o’clock
All that day Sir John and Jeffrey , his serving-man , trotted forward through the snow -- that is , when they were not obliged to walk because of the depth of the drifts . Their plan was to reach a certain farm in a glade of the woodland within two hours of sundown , and sleep there , for they had taken the forest path , leaving again for the Fens and Cambridge at the dawn . This , however , proved not possible because of the exceeding badness of the road . So it came about that when the darkness closed in on them a little before five o'clock , bringing with it a cold , moaning wind and a scurry of snow , they were obliged to shelter in a faggot-built woodman 's hut , waiting for the moon to appear among the clouds . Here they fed the horses with corn that they had brought with them , and themselves also from their store of dried meat and barley cakes , which Jeffrey carried on his shoulder in a bag . It was a poor meal eaten thus in the darkness , but served to stay their stomachs and pass away the time . At length a ray of light pierced the doorway of the hut .