An hour before noon
With the automatic he could kill or wound the three before they could reach their rifles , which would undoubtedly be on the sledge . The situation had now reached a point where he no longer took into consideration what these men might be to Meleese . As they continued into the northwest Howland noted that the thicker forest was gradually clearing into wide areas of small banskian pine , and that the rock ridges and dense swamps which had impeded their progress were becoming less numerous . An hour before noon , after a tedious climb to the top of a frozen ridge , Croisset pointed down into a vast level plain lying between them and other great ridges far to the north . `` That is a bit of the Barren Lands that creeps down between those mountains off there , M'seur , '' he said . `` Do you see that black forest that looks like a charred log in the snow to the south and west of the mountains ? That is the break that leads into the country of the Athabasca .