about nine o'clock at night
He bowed from the hips -- and Ruth gasped as she saw the obeisance . Only yesterday she had seen a man bow in that same way ! The guns on the battle front had been silent for twenty-four hours ; but there were whispers of the Yankees `` getting back '' at the Heinies in return for the outbreak of German gunfire which had startled Ruth Fielding the afternoon she had taken tea at the Chateau Marchand . The outbreak of the new attack -- this time from the American side -- began about nine o'clock at night . A barrage was laid down , behind which , Ruth learned , several raiding parties would go over . Just the method of this advance across No Man 's Land Ruth did not understand . But all the time the guns were roaring back and forth -LRB- for , of course , the Germans quickly replied -RRB- she knew the American boys were in peril all along that sector .