one o'clock
Some units of the Allies had lost direction , others bored their way through the German line then , finding themselves hemmed in , fought out again ; in many places were noticed small groups so intent upon their own little conflicts that they seemed to be having no part in the big game , at all . But these aerial observers realized that the tremendous sledge-hammer blows , directed with consummate skill and resiliency , left the mass of wastage on the German side ; for , with strategical and tactical problems suddenly changed from boxed-in trench warfare to the elastic manoeuvers of open battle , the directing mind which is more elastic , all things else being equal , wins the day -- and , whatever other virtues the Boche may possess , his mind can hardly be said to expand spontaneously . At the same time , the enemy was dying hard : fortifying at a moment 's notice when forced into a corner , and making heroic resistance with machine-guns in patches of woods , craters , or other favorable moulding of the terrain . When Jeb sweated in behind Hastings at one o'clock he staggered down the road without seeing it . From lack of food , and the horrible wrenching nausea he had suffered , as well as the terror gnawing more and more into his soul , he was pretty well done for . Barrow , noting this with the eye of a skilful physician , sent a nurse for black coffee and a bowl of soup , but Jeb rebelled in disgust at the thought of it . `` Come , now , '' his chief said commandingly , when the nurse returned , `` shut your eyes and drink them down , I tell you !