five o'clock
`` _ Pardi _ ! '' exclaimed Loubet , `` it 's not such a difficult matter to cut a dash when one travels with a coach and four ! '' The staff had found Altkirch free from the enemy ; not a Prussian had shown his face there yet . It had been the general 's wish , not knowing at what moment they might fall upon his rear , that the retreat should be continued to Dannemarie , and it was not until five o'clock that the heads of columns reached that place . Tents were hardly pitched and fires lighted at eight , when night closed in , so great was the confusion of the regiments , depleted by the absence of the stragglers . The men were completely used up , were ready to drop with fatigue and hunger . Up to eight o'clock soldiers , singly and in squads , came trailing in , hunting for their commands ; all that long train of the halt , the lame , and the disaffected that we have seen scattered along the roads .