midday twilight
There was life in the Northland . He would follow it , look upon it , gloat over it . He forgot his swollen muscles , plunging through the deep snow in an ecstasy of anticipation . The forest swallowed him up , and the brief midday twilight vanished ; but he pursued his quest till exhausted nature asserted itself and laid him helpless in the snow . There he groaned and cursed his folly , and knew the track to be the fancy of his brain ; and late that night he dragged himself into the cabin on hands and knees , his cheeks frozen and a strange numbness about his feet . Weatherbee grinned malevolently , but made no offer to help him . He thrust needles into his toes and thawed them out by the stove .