four o'clock
March at four o'clock . '' And the counsellors left kisses on the same instep , and departed . Thence through the night the noises of preparation kept the space between the hills of the narrows alive with echoes . At the hour permitted by the stars -- four o'clock -- a cloud of boats cast loose from the Asiatic shore , and with six thousand laborers , handmen to a thousand master masons , crossed at racing speed to Europe . `` God is God , and Mahomet is his Prophet , '' they shouted . The vessels of burden , those with lime , those with stone , those with wood , followed as they were called , and unloading , hauled out , to give place to others . Before sun up the lines of the triangular fort whose walls near Roumeli-Hissar are yet intact , prospectively a landmark enduring as the Pyramids , were defined and swarming with laborers .