About four o'clock in the afternoon
The top of the cone extended far up the hill , but , owing to the sharpness of the pitch , its bottom , which covered the frames and rockwork , was thin . Festing sent half the men to cut this portion away , and the others up the hill to haul posts for the snowshed to the top of the slides . It was obvious that a very heavy weight rested on the buried work , but the pressure was uniform , unlike the jarring of a train , and he did not feel disturbed . About four o'clock in the afternoon he came to see how much progress the shovel gang had made , and Charnock , who superintended their labor , showed him what they had done . They had cut a gap in the cone , and part of the rockwork was exposed nearly to the bottom . On each side , the snow ran down to the water in a uniform smooth slant , except where broken trees projected from the surface . Above , the mass of snow rested on the shelf that would carry the track and on the top of the half-finished work .