midnight
`` It is death to uncover now . Bury your face here , against my parka , and breathe gently and do no talking -- see , the way I am doing . '' They dozed on through the darkness , though the decreasing fits of coughing of one invariably aroused the other . It was after midnight , Smoke judged , when McCan coughed his last . After that he emitted low and bestial moanings that never ceased . Smoke awoke with lips touching his lips . He lay partly in Labiskwee 's arms , his head pillowed on her breast .