three o’clock in the morning
`` Well , Mac-Nab , '' said Hobson at last , `` if we can not find them alive '' -- -- `` We must recover their bodies , '' added the head carpenter . `` And with these words Mac-Nab , accompanied by the Lieutenant , went back to his work at the bottom of the shaft without a word to any of his comrades of the terrible form his anxiety had now assumed . The excavation continued throughout the night , the men relieving each other every hour , and Hobson and Mac-Nab watched them at work without a moment 's rest . At three o'clock in the morning Kellet 's pickaxe struck against something hard , which gave out a ringing sound . The head carpenter felt it almost before he heard it . `` We have reached them ! '' cried the soldier , `` they are saved . ''