four o'clock
Then he turned his gaze and slowly took in the circle of the world that remained to him now that Bill was gone . Near the horizon the sun was smouldering dimly , almost obscured by formless mists and vapors , which gave an impression of mass and density without outline or tangibility . The man pulled out his watch , the while resting his weight on one leg . It was four o'clock , and as the season was near the last of July or first of August , -- he did not know the precise date within a week or two , -- he knew that the sun roughly marked the northwest . He looked to the south and knew that somewhere beyond those bleak hills lay the Great Bear Lake ; also , he knew that in that direction the Arctic Circle cut its forbidding way across the Canadian Barrens . This stream in which he stood was a feeder to the Coppermine River , which in turn flowed north and emptied into Coronation Gulf and the Arctic Ocean . He had never been there , but he had seen it , once , on a Hudson Bay Company chart .