midnight
`` Not a bit of it ! '' exclaimed Bert , and the others agreed with him . Leaving the game he had shot , Henry Burdock started off again through the storm-swept woods , while Bert and the others made themselves at home in the cabin . Mr. Burdock had showed them where he kept his food , and the boys and girls enjoyed a midnight lunch , for it was now after twelve o'clock . It was about three in the morning when the hunter came back , to find his young friends asleep . He let himself in quietly , and not until daylight , when they awoke , did he tell them of his trip . He had reached Snow Lodge safely , there to find Mr. and Mrs. Bobbsey almost distracted over the absence of the children .