about two in the morning
It is not often that a weather prophet has so much honor in his own family , and really Maurice never did a wiser thing in his life than when he thus provided for a bad spell to come on the strength of Thad 's knowledge of floating clouds and such signs . For the storm descended upon them that very night , and coming off the river , gave them something of a fright lest they be wrecked thus early in their voyage down the big water . Given two miles of river over which to sweep with fury , and a forty-mile-an-hour gale can kick up a tremendous sea , besides penetrating every crack and cranny to be found in a flimsy cabin , chilling the very marrow of the sleepers . It was about two in the morning when Maurice awoke to find the boat pitching violently and himself shivering with cold , for they had let the fire die out on retiring , such was the heat of the cabin . `` Hi there , show a leg , Thad . There 's something doing , and I rather reckon your plagued old storm 's arrived ahead of time . D'ye want to freeze to death , boy ?