noon
For two hours he watched the labors of the men as they beached the bateau on long rollers of smooth birch and rolled it foot by foot over a cleared trail until it was launched again above the waterfall . Then he was led back into the cabin and his arms freed . That night he went to sleep with the music of the waterfall in his ears . The second day the Yellowknife seemed to be no longer a river , but a narrow lake , and the third day the rowers came into the Nine Lake country at noon , and until another dusk the bateau threaded its way through twisting channels and impenetrable forests , and beached at last at the edge of a great open where the timber had been cut . There was more excitement here , but it was too dark for David to understand the meaning of it . There were many voices ; dogs barked . Then voices were at his door , a key rattled in the lock , and it opened .