about three o'clock in the afternoon
-- _ All 's Well . _ `` What nearer debt in all humanity , than wife is to the husband . '' -- _ Troilus and Cressida . _ It was about three o'clock in the afternoon , and a burning sun threw its strong rays upon the sandhill where stood prepared , for whatever further emergency might occur , the little band of American soldiers now reduced to less than one half of their original number . The acquisition of the three-pounder had greatly encouraged them for the moment , but , during the inaction that succeeded to the death and removal of the body of the fierce Chippewa , each had leisure to reflect on the but too probable issue of the struggle . As long as day remained to them , they felt that they could , while possessed of the gun and a sufficient quantity of ammunition , defend themselves ; but when the darkness of night should come on , enabling their enemies to approach and surround them from all quarters , it must be vain to expect they could maintain the contest with the same success that had hitherto attended their extraordinary efforts . Inactivity , in a position of that kind , ever brings despondency , and from one evil the mind is prone to revert to another .