midnight
We were all starving in fact , and the food left in our wallets would not keep a cat alive for another forty-eight hours . Retiring to a clump of firs about 100 yards back from the river 's bank , we scooped a hole in the snow and entrenched ourselves as well as we could for the night . Some of us managed to sleep a little ; the others tried to allay the pangs of hunger by chewing their musket-covers , the sponges on their ramrods , even their boot-soles . At midnight came my turn for watching . In my weakness I may have dozed , or perhaps was light-headed . At any rate , turning after some time to glance at the sleepers , I missed Obed . An ugly suspicion seized me ; I counted the muskets .