August 5th, about eight o'clock in the morning
On the third day of August , 1870 , I left Paris in search of John Buckhurst . On the 4th of August I lost all traces of Mr. Buckhurst near the frontier , in the village of Morsbronn . The remainder of the day I spent in acquiring that `` general information '' so dear to the officials in Paris whose flimsy systems of intelligence had already begun to break down . On August 5th , about eight o'clock in the morning , the military telegraph instrument in the operator 's room over the temporary barracks of the Third Hussars clicked out the call for urgency , not the usual military signal , but a secret sequence understood only by certain officers of the Imperial Military Police . The operator on duty therefore stepped into my room and waited while I took his place at the wire . I had been using the code-book that morning , preparing despatches for Paris , and now , at the first series of significant clicks , I dropped my left middle finger on the key and repeated the signal to Paris , using the required variations . Then I rose , locked the door , and returned to the table .