ten o'clock
Mr Jolliffe appeared on the scene as usual at ten o'clock , and read prayers . After which , advising us all to get a good night , and announcing that to-morrow being Christmas Day , we should not breakfast till nine , he trotted off to his quarters and left us . We were all pretty ready to take his advice , for what with a sixteen - mile run across country in the afternoon , and our big dinner in the evening , the thought of bed seemed rather a comfortable prospect . One or two of the fellows , however , fellows whom no exertion ever seemed to weary , protested against going to bed at ten o'clock , and took good care that those who did should n't sleep . We were used to that , and had to put up with it , and it must have been close upon the stroke of Christmas Day before they finally condescended to turn in and leave us in peace . One by one the candles went out , the talk and the laughter gradually subsided , and even the grunts and twitches of the doughty heroes as they first gave themselves over to slumber died away in the darkness . For the first time since we rose that morning , a dead silence reigned in Jolliffe 's .