five o'clock
`` They will never do it , '' Captain Brookfield said decidedly . `` It would need ten times as many men to give them a chance . '' This was the opinion of them all , and they hoped even now that this was but the advance party , and that ere long they would see a far larger body of men coming up . But there were no signs of reinforcements , and at five o'clock the troops were re-formed and the advance began . They dashed forward up the hill under a heavy fire , to which the supporting line replied . The boulders afforded a certain amount of shelter , and of this the Inniskillings took every advantage , until they reached the last ledge with comparatively little loss . But the work was still before them .