eight o'clock in the evening
Bob waited until they were well in the distance , and then examined the poor fellow underneath . If the boys had been scared to have jumped on the man , the man had been more than scared to have had them do so . There was all-round relief when the boys found the victim to be an elderly Belgian farmer ; and the relief of the farmer himself as he gathered his scattered wits , to find that the boys had no designs further upon his welfare , was truly comic . The Germans , he said , had imposed severe penalties on inhabitants who roamed about the country-side between eight o'clock in the evening and daylight . His quest remained unexplained , except in so far as a sack of something the boys did not examine might have explained it . Bob advised the old man to remain where he was till morning light , and the boys pressed on . Before dawn they took refuge in a shed behind a house whose stately lines were marred by the marks of bombardment .