midnight
There were innumerable objections made ; it was a stupendous undertaking , for we had nothing fit for besieging , only our good swords and Maurice of Saxe to lead us . But at last , seeing ruin advancing upon us in the shape of an Austrian army , while starvation stood sentry over us , the King of Saxony and the rest of them were visited with a great light and concluded to let my master have his way ; and the night of the twenty-seventh of November , 1741 , was fixed upon to assault the town . It was a cold , clear night , with a moon that made all things white and light . At midnight , when the town was sleeping , and only the sentries waked and walked , a tremendous cannonade broke out all around the walls , heaviest toward the south . This was but a sham attack , but the best part of the garrison hastened there to repel it . And then Count Saxe , advancing from the gardens and cottages on the Wischerad side , came to the walls . The men rushed forward with the scaling ladders , but they were full ten feet too short .