four o'clock
He did not need eyes to follow the trail . It was warm under his nose , and he started in the zigzag ascent of the mountain as fast as he could go . There were places where progress was difficult for his short legs , but he kept on valiantly and hopefully , encouraged by Thor 's fresh scent . It took him a good hour to reach the beginning of the naked shale that reached up to the belt of snow and the sky-line , and it was four o'clock when he started up those last three hundred yards between him and the mountain-top . Up there he believed he would find Thor . But he was afraid , and he continued to whimper softly to himself as he dug his little claws bravely into the shale . Muskwa did not look up to the crest of the peak again after he had started .