midnight
It grew dark rapidly , and the wind and storm increased . When they came out of the woods , they found that the air was very thick with the falling flakes , and the drifts had begun to be quite large , so that sometimes , in plunging through them , the snow would bank up quite high , before the sled , against the ends of the rafters . Jonas said that , if they had been two hours later , they could not have got along . `` You said that the snow would n't be a foot deep by midnight , '' said Josey . `` It is coming faster than I thought it would , '' said Jonas . `` It is almost a foot deep now . '' The road by which the boys were advancing , led along the bank of the brook , until it reached nearly to the shore of the pond , and then it turned off , and went towards the house , at a little distance from the shore .