four o'clock
Osman and his dusky hordes were being repulsed as usual , and the reinforcements were obliged to content themselves with merely listening to the sounds of war . No time was lost in sending the newly-arrived troops to their sphere of duty . There was something appropriate in their landing on that day of gunpowdery memories , the 5th of November . It was four o'clock when they disembarked . By four-thirty they were drawn up and inspected by the General , and immediately thereafter marched off in detachments to their respective stations -- to Sphinx Redoubt , Fort Commodore , Bulimba , and other points of defence . The detachment in which Miles Milton found himself was led by Captain Lacey to Sphinx Redoubt , where he was greatly pleased to find that his new friend , private Stevenson of the marines , was also stationed with some of his comrades . There are probably times in the experiences of most of us when we seem to awake out of a long dream and begin to appreciate fully that the circumstances in which we are placed are stern realities after all .