"No, God no, not that long." James' tone probably indicates very clearly how thankful he is that it wasn't. "That is the case near the pole, but we were far further south, and polar night lasted a little more than two months there." So likely similar to what they're facing here, if not slightly longer. Which is interesting, as James wonders--not for the first time--how far north they are, and on that note--

"I was told we're in Canada?" Canada existed in his time, but far smaller and, for the most part, far further south. But he wonders if perhaps that changed over time, if they're in a part of Canada north enough to have such a long polar night. He'd wondered before just how far they might be from King William Island, finding it an odd coincidence to have ended up on even the same continent, but now the question has returned to him even more strongly.