Ten o'clock at night
`` I ? In any case the whole town will ! She asked me if he had gone out , not if he had come back ! '' Right and Might Ten o'clock at night : the last rockets rose lazily in the dark sky where a few paper balloons recently inflated with smoke and hot air still glimmered like new stars . Some of those adorned with fireworks took fire , threatening all the houses , so there might be seen on the ridges of the roofs men armed with pails of water and long poles with pieces of cloth on the ends . Their black silhouettes stood out in the vague clearness of the air like phantoms that had descended from space to witness the rejoicings of men . Many pieces of fireworks of fantastic shapes -- wheels , castles , bulls , carabaos -- had been set off , surpassing in beauty and grandeur anything ever before seen by the inhabitants of San Diego .