ten o'clock
`` Canterac ca n't escape if we follow him up properly , '' said the major , `` and Colonel Miller seems the man to do that . '' `` That is so ; but he ca n't move without orders ; and there 's more than one man in high places who will prefer Lima to a pursuit . '' Thus they talked during the afternoon , and early in the evening Colonel Miller ordered that every one not on duty should turn in at once ; which we took to be a sign that something was going to happen shortly . At ten o'clock the column was roused . The men assembled silently , and a whisper went round that Canterac had begun his retreat . For more than an hour we awaited fresh orders , the colonel on horseback fuming impatiently , until at last the word came to march . `` An hour thrown away , '' muttered the colonel angrily .