two in the morning
About midnight , too , the moon vanished altogether , and they must creep on as best they could through the darkness . Indeed , so dark was it , that Mouti was obliged to get out and lead the exhausted horses , one of which would now and again fall down , to be cruelly flogged before it rose . Once , too , the cart very nearly upset ; and on another occasion it was within an inch of rolling down a precipice . This went on till two in the morning , when John found that it was impossible to force the wearied beasts a yard farther . So , having luckily come to some water about fifteen miles out of Heidelberg , he halted , and after the horses had drunk , gave them as much forage as they could eat . One lay down at once , and refused to touch anything -- a sure sign of great exhaustion ; a second ate lying down ; but the other two filled themselves in a satisfactory way . Then came a weary wait for the dawn .