eight o'clock
This sudden request in the midst of a council on wages of men , wood , and grub surprised Billebedam . Besides , it was early in the day , and he had never known white men of the calibre of Pentfield and Hutchinson to dice and play till the day 's work was done . But his face was impassive as a Yukon Indian 's should be , as he pulled on his mittens and went out the door . Though eight o'clock , it was still dark outside , and the cabin was lighted by a tallow candle thrust into an empty whisky bottle . It stood on the pine-board table in the middle of a disarray of dirty tin dishes . Tallow from innumerable candles had dripped down the long neck of the bottle and hardened into a miniature glacier . The small room , which composed the entire cabin , was as badly littered as the table ; while at one end , against the wall , were two bunks , one above the other , with the blankets turned down just as the two men had crawled out in the morning .