seven o'clock
`` You dirty scoundrels , you dirty scoundrels ! '' he twice repeated , extending his clenched fist in impotent menace . Those who were up there on la Marfee were King William and his staff . As early as seven o'clock he had ridden up from Vendresse , where he had had quarters for the night , and now was up there on the heights , out of reach of danger , while at his feet lay the valley of the Meuse and the vast panorama of the field of battle . Far as the eye could reach , from north to south , the bird 's - eye view extended , and standing on the summit of the hill , as from his throne in some colossal opera box , the monarch surveyed the scene . In the central foreground of the picture , and standing out in bold relief against the venerable forests of the Ardennes , that stretched away on either hand from right to left , filling the northern horizon like a curtain of dark verdure , was the city of Sedan , with the geometrical lines and angles of its fortifications , protected on the south and west by the flooded meadows and the river . In Bazeilles houses were already burning , and the dark cloud of war hung heavy over the pretty village .