one o'clock in the morning
`` Willful haste makes woeful fight . Eat your supper and then you 'd better lie down and sleep if you can . I 'd rather go on watch toward morning if I were you , because if anything happens in the night it will happen late . '' Ned considered it good advice and he lay down in his blankets , having been notified that he would be called at one o'clock in the morning to take his turn . Once more he exerted will to the utmost in the effort to control nerves and body . He told himself that he was now surrounded by friends , who would watch while he slept , and that he could not be surprised . Slumber came sooner than he had hoped , but at the appointed hour he was awakened and took his place among the sentinels .