one o'clock
He could see that the enemy 's shells were passing over the city and that the few projectiles which had fallen on the houses in the vicinity were only responses , made at long intervals , to the irregular and harmless fire from Fort Palatinat , but he could discern nothing of the battle , and his agitation was rising to fever heat ; he experienced an imperious longing for intelligence , which was constantly stimulated by the reflection that his life and fortune would be in danger should the army be defeated . He found it impossible to remain there longer , and went downstairs , leaving behind him the telescope on its tripod , turned on the German batteries . When he had descended , however , he lingered a moment , detained by the aspect of the central garden of the factory . It was near one o'clock , and the ambulance was crowded with wounded men ; the wagons kept driving up to the entrance in an unbroken stream . The regular ambulance wagons of the medical department , two-wheeled and four-wheeled , were too few in number to meet the demand , and vehicles of every description from the artillery and other trains , _ prolonges _ , provision vans , everything on wheels that could be picked up on the battlefield , came rolling up with their ghastly loads ; and later in the day even carrioles and market-gardeners ' carts were pressed into the service and harnessed to horses that were found straying along the roads . Into these motley conveyances were huddled the men collected from the flying ambulances , where their hurts had received such hasty attention as could be afforded . It was a sight to move the most callous to behold the unloading of those poor wretches , some with a greenish pallor on their face , others suffused with the purple hue that denotes congestion ; many were in a state of coma , others uttered piercing cries of anguish ; some there were who , in their semi-conscious condition , yielded themselves to the arms of the attendants with a look of deepest terror in their eyes , while a few , the minute a hand was laid on them , died of the consequent shock .