ten o'clock
Tragedies enough happened up and down the coast when men were drowned or lost in the ice or met with fatal injuries . But never before in the Bay had one man been cut down by the hand of another . It was a ghastly thought , and the awfulness of it was perhaps accentuated by the snow dashing against the window panes and the wind shrieking around the gables of the cabin . It was near ten o'clock , long past their usual bedtime , and they were still talking , for there was matter enough in their brains to banish sleep , when the door suddenly opened and accompanied by the howl of the wind a snow-covered figure lurched in upon them . `` Peter ! 'T is Peter Sparks ! '' exclaimed Andy with vast relief to find it was not a murderous lumberman .