five o'clock in the
morning
`` Excellent -- very good , '' said my uncle , with as much gusto as if he had just left the steps of the club at Hamburg . I had begun to feel as if there had been one gleam of hope . Now all thought of the future vanished ! We had consumed our last ounce of food , and it was five o'clock in the morning ! Man 's constitution is so peculiar that his health is purely a negative matter . No sooner is the rage of hunger appeased than it becomes difficult to comprehend the meaning of starvation . It is only when you suffer that you really understand .