midnight
Each was occupied with his own thoughts , and each was stingy of his breath . To have talked would have been to expend energy . Only once during the day did they halt , early in the evening , to make tea and partake of much-needed refreshment , and then were quickly on their way again , continuing by moonlight . It was past midnight when , Ungava Bob in the lead , crossing a barren rise , beheld the smooth white surface of the Great Lake stretching far away to the northward . Descending the ridge and plunging into the thin forest below , he turned with a nameless dread at his heart toward the lodge where , three months before , he had said farewell to Shad and Manikawan . Then they were in the full exuberance of health and strength . How should he find them now ?