three o'clock
An hour before daybreak we started ; the snow was thick on the ground , but the sky was clear , and without any difficulty or interruption we passed through the towns of Axel and Halst , arrived at Terneuse on the fourth day , and went over to Flushing in company with about a dozen more stragglers from the main body . As we landed , the guard asked us whether we were conscripts . O'Brien replied that he was , and held out his paper . They took his name , or rather that of the person it belonged to , down in a book , and told him that he must apply to the _ état major _ before three o'clock . We passed on delighted with our success , and then O'Brien pulled out the letter which had been given to him by the woman of the cabaret , who had offered to assist me to escape , when O'Brien passed off as a gendarme , and reading the address , demanded his way to the street . We soon found out the house , and entered . `` Conscripts ! ''