midnight
But no matter how much he urged himself on , a great power was pulling at him , and it was Julie Lannes , a prisoner of the Germans in the château . Often he stopped and looked back , always in the same direction . Twice more he saw shells burst in the neighborhood of the house , and then his heart would beat hard , but after brief hesitation he would always pursue his course once more toward the French army . He did not know the time , but he believed it to be well past midnight . He had his watch , but his immersion in the fish pond had caused it to stop . Still , the feel of the air made him believe that he was in the morning hours . Shells continued to pass over his head , and now they came from many points .