about ten o'clock in the morning
Upon the northwest the ground rises in two steep hills -- or rather one steep hill , with two summits about a mile apart . One of these summits is called Talant , the other Fontaine les Dijon . Behind the latter , and upon even higher ground -- at a distance of two and three miles , respectively -- lay the villages of Daix and Hauteville . It was about ten o'clock in the morning that the boys heard the faint boom of a cannon . `` Listen , papa , '' Percy shouted ; `` there are cannon . The Prussians are attacking the heights , on the other side . '' Captain Barclay came out into the garden , and listened for a while with them .