noon precisely
`` Defendant will be tried by court-martial . '' That sounded indeed very dangerous , just as if he were a criminal of the deepest dye , -- he , who for nine years had conducted himself blamelessly . He was almost tempted to laugh at this accusation , which seemed to him so strongly tinctured with prejudice . On October 20th , at noon precisely , the trial began . The judges had come to town from the seat of the command of the army corps . With faces severe and forbidding , they sat at a long table , -- a major , a captain , a first lieutenant , a judge-advocate to conduct the proceedings according to the statutes , and a second one to conduct the prosecution . After Schmitz had given an intelligent account of the facts , Roth was called as witness .