six o'clock
As yet he had decided nothing definite about what he meant to do . He preferred to let things take their own , impromptu course . Sometimes great battles are best decided off-hand , on the march , in the imminent presence of danger . At exactly six o'clock he got up , crossed the Calle de Sevilla and went through the Carrera de San Jerónimo toward the Puerta del Sol . The street-lamps and the lights in the shops had not yet begun to burn . It was an April evening ; a cool , fresh , damp breeze wafted through the streets . Far to the west , shining in rosy space , Venus was shedding her eternal beams .