the hours since eight o'clock
His arms were entirely numbed ; he could not feel that he was lying on them . Surely Slimy 's emissary would come before midnight . `` One , two , three , four -- twelve ! '' How was it that he had lost all count of the hours since eight o'clock ? Whether that had been sleep or insensibility , Waymark could not decide . Intensity of cold must have brought back consciousness ; his whole body seemed to be frozen ; his eyes ached insufferably . Continuous thought had somehow become an impossibility ; he knew that Ida was constantly in his mind , and her image clear at times in the dark before him , but he could not think about her as he wished and tried to do .