About nine o'clock
-LSB- Illustration : THE INDIAN GETTING MY RIFLE IN THE STRONGHOLD -RSB- It happened on the night of March 14th that I took it into my head to sleep another night in the stronghold with Kaiser , and so brought about one more startling thing . It seemed that I must always be doing something instead of staying content with things as they were . It had been thawing a little for several days and I was beginning to wonder if I could not hope for such weather that the train might get through before long and release me from the awful place ; though I knew the snow was packed in the cuts all along the line to the east like ice , and that it would take a great thaw to make any impression on it . About nine o'clock I left the hotel , after carefully locking everything , and went through the tunnel to the barn with Kaiser , my rifle , and the lantern . I locked all the doors behind me , and then we crawled through the small door under Ned 's manger , and that I fastened also . In the stronghold I rolled up in a blanket and the buffalo-robe with Kaiser beside me . I left the lantern burning in the tunnel just beyond my feet at the edge of the stack .