three o'clock in the afternoon
For the first time the significance of Bram 's supply of meat , secured by the outlaw at the last moment before starting out into the Barren , appeared to him with a clearness that filled him with uneasiness . It meant that Bram required three or four days ' rations for himself and his pack in crossing this sea of desolation that reached in places to the Arctic . In that time , if necessity was driving him , he could cover a hundred and fifty miles , while Philip could make less than a hundred . Until three o'clock in the afternoon he followed steadily over Bram 's trail . He would have pursued for another hour if a huge and dome-shaped snowdrift had not risen in his path . In the big drift he decided to make his house for the night . It was an easy matter -- a trick learned of the Eskimo .