two o'clock in the morning
`` No ; that was the night we were at Glencoe . On our way up we did hear some very heavy firing . At least , we were not certain that it was firing , and rather thought it was a distant thunder-storm . '' `` The firing began at two o'clock in the morning , '' Captain Brookfield said , `` and was so heavy that everyone turned out . It lasted four hours , and there was no doubt that the Boers were making a determined attack . Everyone wondered that we did not at once make a diversion . When the day broke it could be seen that numbers of mounted Boers were hurrying off from their camps among the hills towards Ladysmith , but it was not until two in the afternoon that five battalions of infantry marched down towards Colenso , and the naval guns opened in earnest on their lines .