the hour of three o'clock
He might suddenly want them for something , he said . He commanded that they should stay awake , and decapitated several hundred who were found napping . When he saw that the habit was ingrained in their natures and that nothing would avail save a total extermination of the populace , he gave way , gracefully . Then he instituted these popular theatricals in honour of the Patron Saint , and fixed them irrevocably for the hour of three o'clock . He meant to keep his faithful subjects awake on one afternoon of the year , at all events . He took it for granted that they could never resist a performance of this kind . He was right .