eleven o'clock
But he had let himself in for this , and felt he would have to see it through . So he began reading up the books of African travel , and found from these how some of the explorers had trained themselves for the work by enduring hunger , thirst , and other privations before they set out . Tartarin began cutting down his food , taking very watery soup . Early in the morning , too , he walked round the town seven or eight times , and at nights he would stay in the garden from ten till eleven o'clock , alone with his gun , to inure himself to night chills ; while , so long as the menagerie remained in Tarascon , a strange figure might have been seen in the dark , prowling around the tent , listening to the growling of the lion . This was Tartarin , accustoming himself to be calm when the king of beasts was raging . The feeling began to grow , however , that the hero was shirking . He showed no haste to be off .