midnight
She would n't have it any other way . '' They gazed at each other with sober faces . Thirty-six hours later Kendrick , aboard the Winnipeg Express , was rushing westward through the night . His watch told him that the hour was near midnight and in the open timetable beside him he was tracing the train 's progress . Outside in the dark the great scenic sweep of northern wilderness was fleeing behind , mile on mile . He figured that they were within half an hour 's run of the Thorlakson siding . The girl had many hours the start of him and no doubt he would find her safe and sound at the section shanty with Mrs. Thorlakson .