two o'clock
`` Then we have n't much time , have we ? '' exclaimed Leon . `` Let 's get ready . '' At two o'clock , to the second , the _ douzième _ infantry was lined up for inspection . Every man 's uniform had been cleaned , his shoes polished and his rifle oiled and rubbed . They all wore the steel helmets adopted by the army since the outbreak of the war ; these light metal head coverings had saved many a life and prevented many a wound . In the trench warfare the majority of the wounds are apt to be in the head , for that is all that shows to the enemy ; consequently the steel helmets had proved themselves most useful .