About two
o’clock
`` Yes , my boy , and with knife-thrusts , when gun and shots fail . '' Already Thalcave had set the example , for whenever a wolf came too near the burning pile , the long arm of the Patagonian dashed through the flames and came out again reddened with blood . But very soon this means of defense would be at an end . About two o'clock , Thalcave flung his last armful of combustibles into the fire , and barely enough powder remained to load a gun five times . Glenarvan threw a sorrowful glance round him . He thought of the lad standing there , and of his companions and those left behind , whom he loved so dearly . Robert was silent .