nine o'clock
Then he would seize brands from the fire and hurl them into the pack . A hasty drawing back always resulted , accompanied by angry yelps and frightened snarls when a well-aimed brand struck and scorched a too daring animal . Morning found the man haggard and worn , wide-eyed from want of sleep . He cooked breakfast in the darkness , and at nine o'clock , when , with the coming of daylight , the wolf-pack drew back , he set about the task he had planned through the long hours of the night . Chopping down young saplings , he made them cross-bars of a scaffold by lashing them high up to the trunks of standing trees . Using the sled-lashing for a heaving rope , and with the aid of the dogs , he hoisted the coffin to the top of the scaffold . `` They got Bill , an ' they may get me , but they 'll sure never get you , young man , '' he said , addressing the dead body in its tree-sepulchre .