Two o’clock
A few oaths and the groans of sleepers whom Tartarin crushed on his way to the table , and then to the door . Abruptly he found himself outside , stung by the cold , dazzled by the fairy-like reflections of the moon upon that white expanse , those motionless congealed cascades , where the shadow of the peaks , the _ aiguilles _ , the _ séracs _ , were sharply defined in the densest black . No longer the sparkling chaos of the afternoon , nor the livid rising upward of the gray tints of evening , but a strange irregular city of darksome alleys , mysterious passages , doubtful corners between marble monuments and crumbling ruins -- a dead city , with broad desert spaces . Two o'clock ! By walking well they could be at the top by mid-day . `` _ Zou ! _ '' said the P. C. A. , very lively , and dashing forward , as if to the assault .