six o'clock
Seeing a young officer , he determined to speak to him and tell him what he had heard . `` It is very funny , '' said the subaltern , `` I ca n't understand it a bit ; but it 's too late now , we must go through with it . '' All the same the subaltern found his way to his Colonel . Precisely at six o'clock that morning the attack was made . From what Tom learnt afterwards , it had been conceived and prepared for in secret . None but those in high command had any knowledge whatever of it . But evidently the enemy knew .