one o'clock
`` Mary , Mother av Mercy , fwhat the divil possist us to take an ' kepe this melancolius counthry ? Answer me that , sorr . '' It was Mulvaney who was speaking . The time was one o'clock of a stifling June night , and the place was the main gate of Fort Amara , most desolate and least desirable of all fortresses in India . What I was doing there at that hour is a question which only concerns M'Grath the Sergeant of the Guard , and the men on the gate . `` Slape , '' said Mulvaney , `` is a shuparfluous necessity . This gyard 'll shtay lively till relieved . ''