eight
o'clock
`` Blamed if I know , '' was the answer ; `` but he 's one just the same . '' The gale , which had been dying quickly , ceased at nightfall , and it came on clear and cold . A cup of coffee , set aside to cool and forgotten , a few minutes later was found coated with half an inch of ice . At eight o'clock , when Sprague and Stine , already rolled in their blankets , were sleeping the sleep of exhaustion , Kit came back from a look at the boat . `` It 's the freeze-up , Shorty , '' he announced . `` There 's a skin of ice over the whole pond already . '' `` What are you going to do ? ''