ten o'clock in the morning
Anxious Bight was caught over with rotten ice from Ragged Run Harbor to the heads of Afternoon Arm . A rumor of seals on the Arctic drift ice off shore had come in from the Spotted Horses . It inspired instant haste in all the cottages of Ragged Run -- an eager , stumbling haste . In Bad-Weather Tom West 's kitchen , somewhat after ten o'clock in the morning , in the midst of this hilarious scramble to be off to the floe , there was a flash and spit of fire , and the clap of an explosion , and the clatter of a sealing-gun on the bare floor ; and in the breathless , dead little interval between the appalling detonation and a man 's groan of dismay followed by a woman 's choke and scream of terror , Dolly West , Bad-Weather Tom 's small maid , stood swaying , wreathed in gray smoke , her little hands pressed tight to her eyes . She was -- or rather had been -- a pretty little creature . There had been yellow curls -- in the Newfoundland way -- and rosy cheeks and grave blue eyes ; but now of all this shy , fair loveliness -- `` You 've killed her ! '' `` No -- no ! ''