ten o'clock until
noon
Then , like a whirlwind mob , and clad in their `` cit . '' clothes , the upper class men got away on that hurried , frenzied leave . There was no leave , however , for the new midshipmen . In lieu of leave , through the month of September , the new fourth class men spent the time , each week-day , from ten o'clock until noon , at the `` Dago Department , '' as the Department of Modern Languages is termed . Here they made their start in French . `` When Trotter comes back , '' muttered Dan , `` if he asks me whether I can talk French , I 'll tell him that I 've tried , and now I know I ca n't . '' It was the last night before the upper classmen were due back from their leave .