about an hour before noon
This was followed by a brief lull , a biting nip of frost that registered thirty degrees below zero , and then fog and wind out of the east . After the snowy gale , during the day of still , bitter cold , relief parties went to Squid Beach and Nolan 's Cove and brought in the half-frozen watchers . For a day the look-out stations were deserted , the people finding it all they could do to keep from freezing in their sheltered cabins in Chance Along ; but with the coming of the east wind and the fog , the huts of sods were again occupied . The fog rolled in about an hour before noon ; and shortly after midnight the man from Nolan 's Cove groped his way along the edge of the cliff , down the twisty path to the cluster of cabins , and to Black Dennis Nolan 's door . He pounded and kicked the door until the whole building trembled . `` What bes ye a-wantin ' now ? '' bawled the skipper , from within .