four P.M.
`` Real mint-julep in the new style ! '' All these cries intermingled produced a bewildering and deafening hubbub . But on this day , 1st of December , such sounds were rare . No one thought of eating or drinking , and at four P.M. there were vast numbers of spectators who had not even taken their customary lunch ! And , a still more significant fact , even the national passion for play seemed quelled for the time under the general excitement of the hour . Up till nightfall , a dull , noiseless agitation , such as precedes great catastrophes , ran through the anxious multitude . An indescribable uneasiness pervaded all minds , an indefinable sensation which oppressed the heart .