ten o'clock at night
It was stifling and narrow in our box of stone under the low , heavy ceiling , covered with smoke-black and spider-webs . It was close and disgusting within the thick walls , which were spattered with stains of mud and mustiness ... . We rose at five o'clock in the morning , without having had enough sleep , and , dull and indifferent , we seated ourselves by the table at six to make biscuits out of the dough , which had been prepared for us by our companions while we were asleep . And all day long , from morning till ten o'clock at night , some of us sat by the table rolling out the elastic dough with our hands , and shaking ourselves that we might not grow stiff , while the others kneaded the dough with water . And the boiling water in the kettle , where the cracknels were being boiled , was purring sadly and thoughtfully all day long ; the baker 's shovel was scraping quickly and angrily against the oven , throwing off on the hot bricks the slippery pieces of dough . On one side of the oven , wood was burning from morning till night , and the red reflection of the flame was trembling on the wall of the workshop as though it were silently mocking us . The huge oven looked like the deformed head of a fairy-tale monster .