ten o'clock
Again and again he faced the west , and always when he sniffed the air in that direction there came a low whine in his throat . That night , with doubt in his heart , Challoner fastened him near the tent with a tough rope of babiche . For a long time after Challoner had gone to bed Miki sat on his haunches close to the spruce to which he was fastened . It must have been ten o'clock , and the night was so still that the snap of a dying ember in the fire was like the crack of a whip to his ears . Miki 's eyes were wide open and alert . Near the slowly burning logs , wrapped in his thick blankets , he could make out the motionless form of the Indian , asleep . Back of him the sledge-dogs had wallowed their beds in the snow and were silent .