four o'clock in the morning
The shadow left the room . Was it the young woman whom he had released , who had come ? But why should she have come ? At four o'clock in the morning , the streets were almost empty . A few fruit and vegetable-carts were making their way between the demolished houses and the shattered pavements . But from a neighbouring avenue there emerged a little cavalcade in which Simon immediately recognized , at the head of the party , astride a monstrous big horse , Old Sandstone , wearing his rusty top-hat , with the skirts of his black frock-coat overflowing either side of a saddle with bulging saddle-bags . Next came Antonio , _ alias _ Lynx-Eye , likewise mounted ; then a third horseman , perched like the others behind heavy saddle-bags ; and lastly three persons on foot , one of whom held the bridle of a fourth horse .