about nine o'clock
As Felix had said , we numbered barely three thousand men , and one missed a host of familiar faces . I thought with pity of the noble St. Cyr , and many others of our best and bravest who had already laid down their lives for the Cause . We retired to rest early , and soon after daybreak were roused by the bugles . Tents were struck , prayers said , and about nine o'clock we moved off the ground in the direction of the Dordogne . It would be tedious to relate in detail the incidents of that southern journey . The weather was bitterly cold and rainy , much sickness set in , and we suffered numerous hardships . Still we pushed steadily forward , through Guienne , Ronergue , and Quercy , passed the Lot below Cadence , and halted at Montauban .