four
o'clock
Rod remembered now that they had found no more birch-bark upon the floor , which they would have done if a supply had been kept there for kindling fires . Step by step he went over the search they had made in the old cabin , and more and more satisfied did he become that the skeleton hand held something of importance for them . He replenished his fire and waited impatiently for dawn . At four o'clock , before day had begun to dispel the gloom of night , he cooked his breakfast and prepared his pack for the homeward journey . Soon afterward a narrow rim of light broke through the rift in the chasm . Slowly it crept downward , until the young hunter could make out objects near him and the walls of the mountains . Thick shadows still defied his vision when he began retracing his steps over the trail he had made the day before .