two o'clock in the morning
I should have been glad to visit the town , but the darkness prevents me from seeing anything . According to what Major Noltitz says it still retains the traces of Skobeleffs terrible assault in 1880 -- dismantled walls , bastions in ruins . I must content myself with having seen all that with the major 's eyes . The train starts at two o'clock in the morning , after having been joined by a few passengers who Popof tells me are Turkomans . I will have a look at them when daylight comes . For ten minutes I remained on the car platform and watched the heights of the Persian frontier on the extreme limit of the horizon . Beyond the stretch of verdant oasis watered by a number of creeks , we crossed wide cultivated plains through which the line made frequent diversions .