nearly midnight
He hoped that the present war would sweep away all such as Auersperg . He watched nearly an hour while the automobiles , cyclists , a column of infantry , and then several batteries of heavy guns drawn by motors , passed . He judged that the Germans were executing a change of front somewhere , and that the Franco-British forces were still pressing hard . The far thunder of the guns had not ceased for an instant , although it must be nearly midnight . He wished he knew what this movement on the part of the Germans meant , but , even if he had known , he had no way of reaching his own army , and he turned back to the cottage . Having fastened the door securely again he spread the blankets on the bench by the window and lay down to sleep . The tension was gone from his nerves now , and he felt that he could fall asleep at once , but he did not .