seven o'clock
The snow fell upon them , changing them into phantoms , all seemingly eager to join in the mad revel of the storm . And the lights at the mastheads , swooping now downward , now upward , now from side to side , dappled the troubled waters with sickly gold . A desert of marshes behind it , a limitless sea before it , gave to this brave old city an isolation at once splendid and melancholy ; and thrice melancholy it stood this wild March night , witnessing as it did the final travail of winter , pregnant with spring . At seven o'clock the ice-clad packet from Dieppe entered the harbor and dropped anchor . Among those who disembarked were two Jesuit priests and an Iroquois Indian , who immediately set out for the episcopal palace . They passed unobserved through the streets , for the blinding , whirling snow turned them into shadow-shapes , or effaced them totally from sight . Besides , wayfarers were few and the hardy mariners had by this time sought the warm chimney in the favorite inn .