noon
This extreme does not arise from the absolute depression of the thermometer -- which at least is but a poor indicator of either heat or cold -- I mean the sensation of either . It is more probably the contrast springing from the sudden change -- the exposure -- the absence of proper clothing or shelter -- the state of the blood -- and other like circumstances , that cause both heat and cold to be more sensibly felt . I had ofttimes experienced the chill blast of the norther , but never more acutely than upon that night . The day had been sweltering hot -- the thermometer at noon ranging about the one-hundredth Fahrenheit degree , while in the first hour of darkness it could not have been far above the twentieth . Had I judged by my sensations , I should have put it even lower . Certainly it had passed the freezing-point , and sharp sleet and hail were borne upon the wings of the wind . With nerves deranged from want of rest and sleep -- after the hot day 's march -- after the perspiration produced by long exposure upon the heated surface of the burnt prairie -- I perhaps felt the cold more acutely than I should otherwise have done .