ten minutes to 10 o'clock
By the ceasing of the shells on this square it was 24 minutes to 10 o'clock -- the hour when the French forces would stream over the top . And for ten minutes , upon the square , the French fire would cease . That was because it was upon this square that Hal and Chester -- if both survived to reach it -- would meet . It was under the ground in this numbered ten minutes to 10 o'clock -- that the French were hidden , of whom Jean Brosseau had told . And as Brosseau had expected and hoped , Chester and Hal -- or whichever of them survived to this square -- were ordered to employ those people . Chester crept forward , searching for the ruins of the house to mark the spot . There was a communication-trench some yards away to the left of it , he remembered .