nine o'clock
Gaude , the bugler , with his darkly mysterious air , as of a man who has had troubles of which he does not care to speak , sounded the call for evening muster with a glorious fanfare ; but there was no necessity for sounding taps that night , the camp was immediately enveloped in profound silence . And when he had verified the names and seen that none of his half-section were missing , Sergeant Sapin , with his thin , sickly face and his pinched nose , softly said : `` There will be one less to-morrow night . '' Then , as he saw Jean looking at him inquiringly , he added with calm conviction , his eyes bent upon the blackness of the night , as if reading there the destiny that he predicted : `` It will be mine ; I shall be killed to-morrow . '' It was nine o'clock , with promise of a chilly , uncomfortable night , for a dense mist had risen from the surface of the river , so that the stars were no longer visible . Maurice shivered , where he lay with Jean beneath a hedge , and said they would do better to go and seek the shelter of the tent ; the rest they had taken that day had left them wakeful , their joints seemed stiffer and their bones sorer than before ; neither could sleep . They envied Lieutenant Rochas , who , stretched on the damp ground and wrapped in his blanket , was snoring like a trooper , not far away . For a long time after that they watched with interest the feeble light of a candle that was burning in a large tent where the colonel and some officers were in consultation .