about four o'clock in the afternoon
But there will be skeptics to the last hour of the last day ; so is the world made of kinds of men . Constantine and Justiniani did not disarm or lay aside their care . In unpatriotic distrust , they kept post behind the ruins of St. Romain , and saw to it that the labor of planting the hull of the galley for a new wall , strengthened with another ditch of dangerous depth and width , was continued . And they were wise ; for about four o'clock in the afternoon , there was a blowing of horns on the parapet by the monster gun , and five heralds in tunics stiff with gold embroidery , and trousers to correspond -- splendid fellows , under turbans like balloons , each with a trumpet of shining silver -- set out for the gate , preceding a stately unarmed official . The heralds halted now and then to execute a flourish . Constantine , recognizing an envoy , sent Justiniani and Count Corti to meet him beyond the moat , and they returned with the Sultan 's formal demand for the surrender of the city . The message was threatening and imperious .