eleven o’clock at night
On the stroke of seven , on the 28th of January , he fell forward on his jumper , which pierced the wall right through . Loud cheering from the other side roused him , and he understood ; he realised that they had met , that his troubles were over , and that he was the winner of ten thousand lire . After a sigh of thanksgiving to the All-Merciful God , he pressed his lips to the bore-hole and whispered the name , of Gertrude ; and then he called for three times three cheers for the Germans . At eleven o'clock at night , there were shouts of `` attention ! '' on the Italian side , and with a thunderous crash , a noise like the booming of cannon at a siege , the wall fell down . Germans and Italians embraced one another and wept , and all fell on their knees and sang the `` Te Deum laudamus . '' It was a great moment ; it was in 1880 , the year in which Stanley 's work in Africa was done , and Nordensköld had accomplished his task .