midnight
`` I 'm tired , '' says Tulacque . `` We do n't get enough solids to eat , mark you . We stand up because it 's the fashion , but we 've no longer either force or freshness . '' `` I 've been getting information , '' Cocon goes on ; `` the troops -- the real troops -- will only entrain as from midnight . They are still mustered here and there in the villages ten kilometers round about . All the departments of the Army Corps will first set off , and the E.N.E. -- elements non endivisionnes , '' Cocon obligingly explains , `` that is , attached directly to the A.C. Among the E.N.E. you wo n't see the Balloon Department nor the Squadron -- they 're too big goods , and they navigate on their own , with their staff and officers and hospitals . The chasseurs regiment is another of these E.N.E. '' `` There 's no regiment of chasseurs , '' says Barque , thoughtlessly , `` it 's battalions .