two o'clock
It was long indeed before his statements were in any way believed , and it was only when , upon the occasion of one day dining with the officer in command of the brigade , Jack , at his request , related in the presence of several officers his adventures in Russia , that his statements were really accepted as facts ; for it was agreed that whatever yarns a fellow might invent to astonish his comrades , he would not venture upon relating them as facts to a post-captain . This , however , was later on . On the morning after his arrival all was expectation , for it was known that the bombardment was about to recommence . At half-past two o'clock the roar of 157 guns and mortars in the British batteries , and over 800 in those of the French , broke the silence , answered a minute or two later by that of the Russian guns along their whole line of batteries . The day was hot and almost without a breeze , and the smoke from so vast a number of guns hung heavily on the hill-side , and nothing could be seen as to the effect which the cannonade was producing . It was not until next morning that the effect of the fire was visible . The faces of the Russian batteries were pitted and scarred , but no injury of importance had been inflicted upon them .