eight o'clock
Now it was Williams who went far into the South , and brought back word that a strange white man had been seen among the Indians ; then it was Thoreau , the Frenchman , who skirted the edge of the Barren Lands three days into the West , and said that he had found the signs of strange campfires . And always Jan was on the move , to the South , the North , the East and the West . The days began to lengthen . It was dawn now at eight o'clock instead of nine , the silvery white of the sun was turning day by day more into the glow of fire , and for a few minutes at midday the snow softened and water dripped from the roofs . Jan knew what it meant . Very soon the thick crust of the `` Beeg Snow '' would drop in , and they would find Cummins . They would bring what was left of him back to the post .