five in the evening
`` But those blackguards have destroyed your sight , '' said Alcide . `` I have Nadia , and her eyes are enough for me ! '' In half an hour the raft left the little port of Livenitchnaia , and entered the river . It was five in the evening and getting dusk . The night promised to be dark and very cold also , for the temperature was already below zero . Alcide and Blount , though they had promised to keep Michael 's secret , did not leave him . They talked in a low voice , and the blind man , adding what they told him to what he already knew , was able to form an exact idea of the state of things .