eight
o'clock in the morning
they had once to cross the Theiss in a ferry-boat -- they were made to do it ! Oh , no ! Nothing happened to them then , but Albert came back after his three years ' service , with two of his front teeth gone , and we all know that Jenö now is little better than an idiot . So now you know , stranger , why we at Marosfalva call the fourteenth day of September the very blackest in the whole calendar , and why at eight o'clock in the morning nobody is at work in the fields . For the fourteenth day being such a black one , we must all make the most of the few hours that come before it . At nine o'clock of that miserable morning the packing of our lads into the train will commence , but until then they are making merry , bless them ! They are true Hungarians , you know !