midnight
Crunch , crunch , crunch in the gravel . The companies were going back to their barracks . He wanted to smile but he did n't dare . He wanted to smile because he had a pass till midnight , because in ten minutes he 'd be outside the gates , outside the green fence and the sentries and the strands of barbed wire . Crunch , crunch , crunch ; oh , they were so slow in getting back to the barracks and he was losing time , precious free minutes . `` Hep , hep , hep , '' cried the sergeant , glaring down the ranks , with his aggressive bulldog expression , to where someone had fallen out of step . The company stood at attention in the dusk .