five o'clock
However , we had ten leagues to go during the night , ten leagues through the snow , and upon empty stomachs . I thought to myself : '' ` It is all over ; my poor fellows will never be able to do it . ' `` We had eaten nothing since the day before , and the whole day long we remained hidden in a barn , huddled close together , so as not to feel the cold so much ; we did not venture to speak or even move , and we slept by fits and starts , like you sleep when you are worn out with fatigue . `` It was dark by five o'clock , that wan darkness caused by the snow , and I shook up my men . Some of them would not get up ; they were almost incapable of moving or of standing upright , and their joints were stiff from the cold and want of motion . `` In front of us there was a large expanse of flat , bare country ; the snow was still falling like a curtain , in large , white flakes , which concealed everything under a heavy , thick , frozen mantle , a mattress of ice . You would have thought that it was the end of things . ''