about midnight
`` Pat her on the back , an ' tell her not to cry , or somethin' like that . '' `` But she ca n't tell what I say . '' `` Oh , she 'll understand if y ' kind o ' chuckle an ' gurgle like a fam ` ly man . '' But the little one slept on , and when , about midnight , Bert got up to feed the fire , he left the stove door open to give light , and went softly over to the sleepers . Ans was sleeping with the little form close to his breast , and the poor , troubled face safe under his shaggy beard . * * * * * And all night long the blasting wind , sweeping the sea of icy sands , hissed and howled round the little sod cabin like surf beating on a half-sunken rock . The wind and the snow and the darkness possessed the plain ; and Cold -LRB- whose other name is Death -RRB- was king of the horrible carnival .