midnight
Once they met a ballast train , with a steam plow mounted at one end of it , and a crowd of men riding on the open cars ; but when it had passed there was nothing to break the deep silence of the woods . The dark firs shut in the narrow track except when here and there a winding lake or frothing river filled a sunny opening . Soon after George and his companion reached the train , the engine came back with a row of freightcars , and during the afternoon the western express pulled out again , and sped furiously through the shadowy bush . It was nearing midnight when George walked impatiently up and down the waiting-room in Winnipeg station , for the western express was very late , and nobody seemed to know when it would start . George was nevertheless interested in his surroundings , and with some reason . The great room was built in palatial style , with domed roof , tessellated marble floor , and stately pillars : it was brilliantly lighted ; and massively-framed paintings of snow-capped peaks and river gorges adorned the walls . An excursion-train from Winnipeg Beach had just come in , and streams of young men and women in summer attire were passing through the room .