four o'clock in the afternoon
And in the next place , if they knew that we were coming , they might bolt before we got there . `` Besides , some of these villages are very strong , and we might suffer a good deal before we could carry it if they had notice of our coming . However , you were quite right to point out to me that we were not going in what seemed the right direction . '' The column started at four o'clock in the afternoon . It had been intended that it should move off at daybreak on the following morning , but Frank had suggested to the Colonel that it would be advantageous to march half the distance that night . `` Of course , we could do the twenty miles tomorrow , Colonel , '' he said , `` but the men would hardly be in the best fighting trim when they got there . Moreover , by starting in the afternoon , the natives here would imagine that we were going to pounce upon some fugitives at a village not far away . ''