half past three o'clock
_ Pardieu ! _ Quite the contrary , '' said the guardian . `` What an amusing devil that Pique-Vinaigre is ! '' At this instant the chimes went half past three o'clock . The Skeleton and Gros-Boiteux exchanged significant glances . The time was drawing on , and the _ surveillant _ did not go ; and some of the less hardened prisoners seemed almost to forget the sinister projects of the Skeleton against Germain , as they listened attentively to Pique-Vinaigre 's recital . `` When I say , '' he continued , `` that Gringalet prevented the larger brutes from eating the smaller , you must understand that Gringalet did not mix himself up with tigers , and lions , and wolves , or even foxes and monkeys , in the menagerie of Cut-in-Half , -- he was too much of a coward for that ; but if he saw , for instance , a spider hidden in his web , in wait for a poor foolish fly flying gaily in the sunshine of the good God , without hurting any one , why , in a moment , Gringalet smashed the web , freed the fly , and did for the spider like a regular Cæsar , -- a real Cæsar ; for he turned as white as a sheet in touching such nasty reptiles ; and then it required resolution in him , who was afraid of a cockchafer , and had been a long while in forming an intimacy with the tortoise which Cut-in-Half handed to him every morning .