midnight
`` Better wait till morning , David -- it must be midnight now . '' I glanced at the chronometer . `` Half after twelve . We have been out seventy-two hours , so it must be midnight . Nevertheless I am going to have a look at the blessed sky that I had given up all hope of ever seeing again , '' and so saying I lifted the bars from the inner door , and swung it open . There was quite a quantity of loose material in the jacket , and this I had to remove with a shovel to get at the opposite door in the outer shell . In a short time I had removed enough of the earth and rock to the floor of the cabin to expose the door beyond .