about one o'clock
For six hours the cannon had been thundering . As they climbed a hill two comrades , riding at his side , had been struck down by a shell , and as they rode onward seven or eight others had bit the dust , pierced by rifle-balls that came no one could say whence . It was becoming tiresome , that slow parade , as useless as it was dangerous , up and down the battlefield . At last -- it was about one o'clock -- he learned that it had been decided they were to be killed off in a somewhat more decent manner . Margueritte 's entire division , comprising three regiments of chasseurs d'Afrique , one of chasseurs de France , and one of hussars , had been drawn in and posted in a shallow valley a little to the south of the Calvary of Illy . The trumpets had sounded : `` Dismount ! '' and then the officers ' command ran down the line to tighten girths and look to packs .