four o’clock in the morning
But , Polly , there 's my hand again . I 'd rather you took it full -- but wo n't you take it empty ? ' The lad took the empty hand and wrung it hard , and held it long . The time , half-past four o'clock in the morning ; the date the twentieth of September , eighteen hundred and fifty-four ; the place the southern bank of the River Alma . Present , some thirty thousand stalwart British men , the vast majority of them snoring open-mouthed , and here and there in the grey of the morning a sentry pacing up and down . Facing northward , Polson Jer-vase 's regiment lies far to the right , and to the right of it again , at a distance of some half a mile , the men of Bosquet 's command are also sleeping . This is a day destined to be famous and terrible in history ; but the dawn is cloudless and quiet .