midnight
He called to them to go forward , and , arriving at the _ igloo _ , listlessly unharnessed and fed them , and retreated to the shelter of the _ igloo _ to think . He could eat nothing that night , but he brewed some strong tea over the stone lamp . Then he lighted his pipe and sat silent , for a long while , forgetting to smoke . With every hour the wind increased in force , and before midnight one of those awful blizzards , so characteristic of Labrador at this season , was at its height . Once Skipper Ed removed the snow block at the entrance of the _ igloo _ , and partly crawled out with a view to looking about , but he was nearly smothered by drift , and quickly drew back again into the _ igloo _ and replaced the snow block . `` The poor lads ! '' said he .