nine o'clock
`` That 's what the Germans think , '' said the officer . `` It 's working like a clock , '' he cried happily . `` There has n't been a hitch . As soon as they got your warning to Colonel Raglan , they came down to the coast like a wave , on foot , by trains , by motors , and at nine o'clock the Government took over all the railroads . The county regiments , regulars , yeomanry , territorials , have been spread along this shore for thirty miles . Down in London the Guards started to Dover and Brighton two hours ago . The Automobile Club in the first hour collected two hundred cars and turned them over to the Guards in Bird Cage Walk .