midnight
` Most nine . '' Indeed , they were all tired from the day 's travel , and soon the boys had been `` shooed '' away and the girls let down their hair . After a hysterical half-hour or so , which always seems to follow when one retires after a day spent in getting to a strange place , the girls were asleep . Amy awoke with a start shortly after midnight . She knew this because a light left burning low in the living room shone on a small clock . And as the girl listened she heard a crunching sound out on the frozen snow . `` Some one is trying to get in the cabin ! ''