"So say we all of us," responded Tom. "By the way, what time is it?"
Harry fumbled among the Doctor's belongings and looked at that gentleman's watch.
"Doctor, you forgot to wind your watch last night. It has run down at a quarter past nine."
"No, I didn't," answered the Doctor, leaping out of bed, where he had lazily lingered for a time. "I certainly wound it before I went to bed."
With that he went across the cabin, took the watch, looked at it, and then put it to his ear.
"It's running all right," he presently said, whereupon the other two members of the company who had watches brought them out.
All pointed to a quarter past nine.
Just then Jack opened the door and something like half a ton of snow fell into the house, but no light came with it.
"Boys!" he cried, "we're utterly snowed in. It is a quarter past nine in the morning, but the house is completely buried in snow! You see there is no light coming in even through the loosely laid roof, while the Doctor's windows are as black as midnight. Yet by looking up the chimney you can see daylight plainly. The fire has kept that open."
"Can there have been twenty odd feet of snowfall in a single night?" asked Harry in astonishment.