three in the morning
When he saw me he shut up his telescope in a hurry , and said , eagerly , ` You have come through the wood , sir ? Have you observed how the work is getting on ? ' I told him what I had seen . ` That 's right , that 's right , ' he said ; ` I 've been here ever since three in the morning , and I was beginning to be afraid that those asses -LRB- and I pay them well , too -RRB- were leaving me in the lurch . But I have some hopes , now , that the view will come into sight at the expected time . ' He drew out his telescope again , and gazed through it towards the wood . After a few minutes , some large branches came rustling down , and , as at the stroke of a magic wand , there opened up a prospect of distant mountains , a beautiful prospect , with the ruins of an old castle glowing in the beams of the setting sun .