three o'clock
On that spot a hut had been built of lumps of ice , so as to shelter us somewhat from the trying wind which precedes daybreak , a wind so cold as to tear the flesh like a saw , cut it like the blade of a knife , prick it like a poisoned sting , twist it like a pair of pincers , and burn it like fire . My cousin rubbed his hands : `` I have never known such a frost , '' he said ; `` it is already twelve degrees below zero at six o'clock in the evening . '' I threw myself on to my bed immediately after we had finished our meal , and went to sleep by the light of a bright fire burning in the grate . At three o'clock he woke me . In my turn , I put on a sheepskin , and found my cousin Karl covered with a bearskin . After having each swallowed two cups of scalding coffee , followed by glasses of liqueur brandy , we started , accompanied by a gamekeeper and our dogs , Plongeon and Pierrot . From the first moment that I got outside , I felt chilled to the very marrow .