three o'clock in the
morning
The soldiers , who were reanimated and warm , had almost reformed their ranks , and an old _ franc-tireur _ -LSB- 16 -RSB- I who was following the litter , waiting for his turn to replace the first of his comrades who might give in , said to one of his neighbors , loud enough for me to hear : -LSB- Footnote 16 : Self-constituted volunteers , in the Franco-German war of 1870-71 , whom the Germans often made short work of , when caught . -- TRANSLATOR . -RSB- '' ` I am not a young man , now ; but by -- , there is nothing like the women to make you feel queer from head to foot ! ' '' `` We went on , almost without stopping , until three o'clock in the morning , when suddenly our scouts fell back again , and soon the whole detachment showed nothing but a vague shadow on the ground , as the men lay on the snow , and I gave my orders in a low voice , and heard the harsh , metallic sound of the cocking of rifles . For there , in the middle of the plain , some strange object was moving about . It might have been taken for some enormous animal running about , which unfolded itself like a serpent , or came together into a coil , suddenly went quickly to the right or left , stopped , and then went on again . But presently that wandering shape came near , and I saw a dozen lancers , one behind the other , who were trying to find their way , which they had lost . ''