three in the morning
At Ayrton 's cry the colonists rushed to the onagas ' stables . The cart was at once harnessed . All were possessed by the same thought -- to hasten to the corral and set at liberty the animals it enclosed . Before three in the morning they arrived at the corral . The cries of the terrified musmons and goats indicated the alarm which possessed them . Already a torrent of burning matter and liquefied minerals fell from the side of the mountain upon the meadows as far as the side of the palisade . The gate was burst open by Ayrton , and the animals , bewildered with terror , fled in all directions .