noon
`` Yes , '' continued the captain , `` you are ordered to hold yourselves subject to the command of your superior officer , '' and he concluded smilingly , `` which is me . '' `` And we could n't have a better ! '' exclaimed both lads in a single voice . The day was at its noon ! From the first break of dawn the battle had raged ; now , at mid-day , it was at its height . Hour after hour the fighting had continued under a shadowless sky , blue as steel , hard as a sheet of brass . The Germans had attacked the Belgians and French with the first streak of light .