midday
But the factor 's lungs were wheezing , his eyes bright , his cache nigh empty ; and he showed us the empty cache of the missionary , also his grave with the rocks piled high to keep off the dogs . There was a bunch of Indians there , but babies and old men there were none , and it was clear that few would see the spring . `` So we pulled on , light-stomached and heavy-hearted , with half a thousand miles of snow and silence between us and Haines Mission by the sea . The darkness was at its worst , and at midday the sun could not clear the sky - line to the south . But the ice-jams were smaller , the going better ; so I pushed the dogs hard and traveled late and early . As I said at Forty Mile , every inch of it was snow-shoe work . And the shoes made great sores on our feet , which cracked and scabbed but would not heal .