eight in the evening
He thus describes the plan on which he proceeded : -- ` Maurice , the Indian , would open his eyes now and then to look at my compass ; -- we could not see for fog more than one hundred yards ; he would fix on some object as far as the eye could reach , and then shut his eyes again , when I would lead him up to it . On reaching it he would take another look , and we then started for the next point . It was literally a case of the blind leading the blind . `` In this manner , by forced marches , we were enabled to reach , by seven or eight in the evening , the same spots at which we had halted on our outward march at four each day . Thus we were spared the labour of digging and clearing away the snow , to which , in our enfeebled condition , we were quite unequal . The stint of food was now so small that I advised my companions not to eat any quantity at a time , but to take a piece the size of a nutmeg when hunger was most craving . We gathered also each day , on our return , about as many partridge berries as would fill a wine glass apiece , and these we found both refreshing and nutritive .