two o'clock
A man could not at times be seen at a distance of ten rods , though occasional lulls in the wind permitted Bert to see nearly to the `` First Moccasin . '' `` He may be in the swale , '' muttered the watcher as he stood with his eye to the loop-hole . But the next time he looked the plain was as wild and lone as before , save under the rising blast the snow was beginning to ramp and race across the level sod till it looked at times like a sea running white with foam and misty with spray . At two o'clock he said : `` Well , I s ` pose Ans has concluded to stay over there to dinner , though what the Norsk can offer as inducement I swear I do n't know . I 'll eat , anyhow ; he can have what 's left . '' He sat down to his lonely meal , and ate slowly , getting up two or three times from his candle-box in a growing anxiety for Ans , using the heated poker now to clear a spot on the pane . He expressed his growing apprehension , manlike , by getting angry .