three o'clock
Daylight came at nine o'clock . At midday the sky to the south warmed to rose-colour , and marked where the bulge of the earth intervened between the meridian sun and the northern world . But the rose-colour swiftly faded . The grey light of day that remained lasted until three o'clock , when it , too , faded , and the pall of the Arctic night descended upon the lone and silent land . As darkness came on , the hunting-cries to right and left and rear drew closer -- so close that more than once they sent surges of fear through the toiling dogs , throwing them into short-lived panics . At the conclusion of one such panic , when he and Henry had got the dogs back in the traces , Bill said : `` I wisht they 'd strike game somewheres , an ' go away an ' leave us alone . '' `` They do get on the nerves horrible , '' Henry sympathised .