three o'clock
`` Yes , we shall have a salute presently ; but they wo n't breach the wall this afternoon at that distance . '' Twenty guns opened fire upon the village , and the shot flew overhead , or buried themselves in the ground in front , or came with heavy thuds against the wall , or , in some instances , crashed into the upper parts of the houses . After an hour 's firing it slackened a little , and finally died out , for the heat was tremendous . At three o'clock there was a move again ; ten of the guns were brought forward to a point about a thousand yards from the wall , while ten others were taken round and placed on the road , at about the same distance , so as to command the gate . Again the fire opened , and this time more effectually . Again the men were called to the loopholes . The greater portion of them were armed , not with the government carbines , but with sporting rifles , shortened so as to be carried as carbines ; and although none of the weapons were sighted for more than six hundred yards , all with sufficient elevation could send balls far beyond that distance .