about eight o'clock
`` It is our way of saying good-by , M'seur , '' replied Croisset with a fierce snap of his whip . `` Hoo-la , get along there ! '' he cried to the dogs , and in half a dozen breaths the fire was lost to view . Dawn comes at about eight o'clock in the northern mid-winter ; beyond the fiftieth degree the first ruddy haze of the sun begins to warm the southeastern skies at nine , and its glow had already risen above the forests before Croisset stopped his team again . For two hours he had not spoken a word to his prisoner and after several unavailing efforts to break the other 's taciturnity Howland lapsed into a silence of his own . When he had brought his tired dogs to a halt , Croisset spoke for the first time . `` We are going to camp here for a few hours , '' he explained .