midnight
He took off his overcoat and offered it to her . `` No , '' said she , `` you are as cold as I am . '' `` You will please take it , '' he replied , in a peremptory manner ; and she took it . `` At this rate we shall freeze to death before midnight , '' he added , as if in soliloquy . `` I must see if I ca n't contrive to make some sort of a shelter with this sagebrush . '' He began by tearing up a large number of bushes by the roots . Seeing what he was doing , Miss Dwyer was glad to warm her stiffened muscles by taking hold and helping ; which she did with a vigor that shortly reduced her gloves to shreds and filled her fingers with scratches from the rough twigs .