five o’clock
In this valley , as it might be called , they were able to examine the internal structure of the icy barrier . The blocks of which it was built up were here arranged with greater symmetry than outside . In some places trunks of trees were seen embedded in the ice , all , however , of Tropical not Polar species , which had evidently been brought to Arctic regions by the Gulf Stream , and would be taken back to the ocean when the thaw should have converted into water the ice which now held them in its chill embrace . At five o'clock it became too dark to go any further . The travellers had not gone more than about two miles in the valley , but it was so sinuous , that it was impossible to estimate exactly the distance traversed . The signal to halt was given by the Lieutenant , and Marbre and Sabine quickly dug out a grotto in the ice with their chisels , into which the whole party crept , and after a good supper all were soon asleep . Every one was up at eight o'clock the next morning , and Hobson decided to follow the valley for another mile , in the hope of finding out whether it went right through the ice-wall .