nearly twelve o'clock
`` It was not so much his wounds as his weakness , '' Dr. Graham was saying , later still that autumn night , `` that led to my declaring Blakely unfit to take the field . He would have gone in spite of me , but for the general 's order . He has gone now in spite of me , and no one knows where . '' It was then nearly twelve o'clock , and `` the Bugologist '' was still abroad . Dinner , as usual since his mishap , had been sent over to him from the officers ' mess soon after sunset . His horse , or rather the troop horse designated for his use , had been fed and groomed in the late afternoon , and then saddled at seven o'clock and brought over to the rear of the quarters by a stable orderly . There had been some demur at longer sending Blakely 's meals from mess , now reduced to an actual membership of two .