seven o'clock
He did not trust the railway , which indeed was in constant danger of being cut by Carlist or Royalist , but performed the distance by road where he met many friends from Navarre and one or two from the valley of the Wolf . A thousand reports , a hundred rumours and lies innumerable , were on the roads also , traveling hither and thither over Spain . And Marshall Prim seemed to be the favoured god of the moment . Marcos was at his post outside the convent school wall at seven o'clock . He heard the clock of San Fernando strike eight . In these Southern latitudes the evenings are not much longer in summer than in winter . It was quite dark by eight o'clock when Marcos rode away .