ten o'clock
All soldiers must learn the first lesson ; only a limited number can learn the second and third . So it came about that for the good of his soul Reginald played a very minor part in this raid , and my information on the doings that occurred in the Hun lines was obtained from the lips of one Samuel Pipston , sometime auctioneer 's assistant , who had joined the battalion with the last draft . He was just a second Reginald -- one stage behind him in development , that 's all -- an apathetic lad , finding war a tedious operation . It was not until ten o'clock on the night , as he lay with his party behind the bank of which I have spoken , that a pleasurable thrill of anticipation began to take hold of Samuel . A slight frost nip was in the air , and in the sky there shone a myriad stars . Away behind him lay the trenches he had just quitted , peaceful and still in the faint moonlight ; and looking to his front he could see the German lines , just as still , only much closer . He tried to realise that he was shortly going to be inside those trenches , and that when he got there he would meet real live men , who would endeavour to kill -- him , Samuel Pipston .