about three o'clock
Where they struck flesh or ploughed into the earth , it was with a deadened sound ; when they burst in air , it was like crackling thunder . The blue sky was gone . A battle pall wrapped the thousands and thousands of men , the guns , the horses , forest , swamp , creeks , old fields ; the great strength of the Federal position , the grey brigades dashing against it , hurled back like Atlantic combers . It should be about three o'clock , Allan thought , but he did not know . Every nerve was tingling , the blood pounding in his veins . Time and space behaved like waves charged with strange driftwood . He felt a mad excitement , was sure that if he stood upright or tried to walk he would stagger .