nine o'clock
Once only they paused to get out McCan 's confiscated suet , which they ate as they walked . The meat was frozen solid , and could be eaten only after thawing over a fire . But the suet crumbled in their mouths and eased the palpitating faintness in their stomachs . Black darkness , with an overcast sky , came on after a long twilight at nine o'clock , when they made camp in a clump of dwarf spruce . McCan was whining and helpless . The day 's march had been exhausting , but in addition , despite his nine years ' experience in the arctic , he had been eating snow and was in agony with his parched and burning mouth . He crouched by the fire and groaned , while they made the camp .