noon
`` Charles will keep me posted , '' answered the evangelist , `` and I shall send you any news by the mail sleigh . '' `` Thank you , '' said Lounsbury , simply . `` Good-by . '' And at the noon mess he was missing . At the shack , the days were numbered slowly , for all their scant hours of light . Sleep consumed most of the time . The rest was taken by the meals , the chores and the effort of keeping warm .