six in the morning
`` It happened this way , '' said Munchausen . `` I was out for sport , and I got it . I was alone , my servant having fallen ill , which was unfortunate , since I had always left the filling of my cartridge-box to him , and underestimated its capacity . I started at six in the morning , and , not having hunted for several months , was not in very good form , so , no game appearing for a time , I took a few practice shots , trying to snip off the slender tops of the pine-trees that I encountered with my bullets , succeeding tolerably well for one who was a little rusty , bringing down ninety-nine out of the first one hundred and one , and missing the remaining two by such a close margin that they swayed to and fro as though fanned by a slight breeze . As I fired my one hundred and first shot what should I see before me but a flock of these delicate birds floating upon the placid waters of the bay ! '' `` Was this the Bay of Biscay , Baron ? '' queried Columbus , with a covert smile at Ptolemy .