one o’clock
This functionary formed , under very difficult circumstances , a proper estimate of the situation . Those three thousand starving men would have to be satisfied ; it would never do for Plassans , on waking up , to find them still squatting on the pavements ; if they withdrew before daybreak they would simply have passed through the slumbering town like an evil dream , like one of those nightmares which depart with the arrival of dawn . And so , although he remained a prisoner , Monsieur Garconnet , followed by two guards , went about knocking at the bakers ' doors , and had all the provisions that he could find distributed among the insurgents . Towards one o'clock the three thousand men began to eat , squatting on the ground , with their weapons between their legs . The market-place and the neighbourhood of the town-hall were turned into vast open-air refectories . In spite of the bitter cold , humorous sallies were exchanged among the swarming multitude , the smallest groups of which showed forth in the brilliant moonlight . The poor famished fellows eagerly devoured their portions while breathing on their fingers to warm them ; and , from the depths of adjoining streets , where vague black forms sat on the white thresholds of the houses , there came sudden bursts of laughter .