about nine o’clock
Bitter winds swept across the vast plain before them and searched them through , all the clothing and blankets they had scarcely sufficing to keep them warm ; indeed , the Settlement men and Francisco , who had been bred in a southern clime , suffered severely . Nor were matters improved when , on the breaking of the light , they woke from a troubled sleep to find the plain hidden in a dense mist . However , they rose , made a fire with reeds and dead wood which they gathered on the banks of the river , and ate , waiting for the fog to vanish . But it did not vanish , so about nine o'clock they continued their journey under Soa 's guidance , following the east bank of the river northwards . The ground proved easy to travel over , for , with the exception of isolated water-worn boulders of granite , the plain was perfectly smooth and covered with turf as fine as any that grows in northern lands . All that day they marched on , wandering like ghosts through the mist , and guided in their path by the murmuring sound of the river . They met no man , but once or twice great herds of hairy creatures thundered past them .