ten o'clock
The third day of Tom 's captivity had been more trying than the two that preceded it . A new piece of woodland had been ordered to be cleared and , as there was a scarcity of labor , Tom had been taxed to even a greater degree than usual . By the time night came , he was feeling utterly exhausted and ready to drop . But dusk brought him little relief , for he was told that he must keep on by lantern light until ten o'clock , before he would be permitted to stop . His troubles were aggravated by the fact that this afternoon a change of guards had brought him under the control of an especially brutal one who made his life a burden by abuse . His guard had ordered him into a thick part of the woods where the high underbrush cut them off from the sight of other working parties a hundred yards away . Here the German had seated himself comfortably on a fallen tree while he watched his prisoner toil , occasionally hurling a threat or epithet at him .