midnight
The work would have been hard anywhere ; on an August night in India it was exhausting . All the time that they were at work the bullets continued to fly thickly overhead , striking the wall of the house with a sharp crack , or burying themselves with a short thud in the earth . Round shot and shell at times crashed through the upper part of the house , which was uninhabited ; while from the terraced roof , and from the battery in the corner of the garden , the crack of the defenders ' rifles answered the enemy 's fire . By the time that the work was done it was midnight , and the Warreners ' turn for guard . They had received rifles , and were posted with six others in the battery . There were three guns here , all of which were loaded to the muzzle with grape ; three artillerymen , wrapped in their cloaks , lay asleep beside them , for the number of artillerymen was so small that the men were continually on duty , snatching what sleep they could by their guns during the intervals of fighting . The orders were to listen attentively for the sound of the movement of any body of men , and to fire occasionally at the flashes of the enemy 's guns .