eight o’clock in the morning
The door could not be opened , and all had to get through the window , and clear away the fresh accumulation of snow ; this time , however , it was no soft mass they had to remove , but compact blocks of ice , which required pick-axes to break them up . It took about half-an-hour to clear a passage , and then every one in the fort , except Mrs Mac-Nab , who was not yet up , hastened into the interior court , glad once more to be able to walk about . The cold was still intense , but the wind having gone down it was possible to endure it , although great care was necessary to escape serious consequences on leaving the heated rooms for the open air , the difference between the temperature inside and outside being some fifty-four degrees . It was eight o'clock in the morning . Myriads of brilliant constellations studded the sky , and at the zenith shone the Pole star . Although in both hemispheres there are in reality but 5000 fixed stars visible to the naked eye , their number appeared to the observers incalculable . Exclamations of admiration burst involuntarily from the lips of the delighted astronomer as he gazed into the cloudless heavens , once more undimmed by mists or vapours .