noon
It was only towards noon when the first captain showed his face at the barracks . Captain König and his faithful Lieutenant Bleibtreu were , in fact , the only officers of the whole regiment who attended to their duties in the forenoon , they having gone home at reasonable hours . Their principle was : first the work , and then the amusement . Captain Hagemann showed himself in the streets , mounted on his favorite horse , as the noon hour struck . He had not yet recovered his equilibrium , and the horse seemed to appreciate that fact instinctively . He carried his master with such tender commiseration for the condition of the latter that he picked his way as carefully as if walking on ice . Stark himself preferred to remain altogether at home .