nine o'clock in the evening
It had been intended that it should move off at daybreak on the following morning , but Frank had suggested to the Colonel that it would be advantageous to march half the distance that night . `` Of course , we could do the twenty miles tomorrow , Colonel , '' he said , `` but the men would hardly be in the best fighting trim when they got there . Moreover , by starting in the afternoon , the natives here would imagine that we were going to pounce upon some fugitives at a village not far away . '' The permission was readily granted , and accordingly , after marching until nine o'clock in the evening , the column halted in a grove of trees to which their guide led them , half a mile from the road . Each man carried four days ' cooked provisions in his haversack . There was therefore no occasion for fires to be lighted , and after seeing that sentries were placed round the edge of the grove , Frank Mallett joined the officers who were gathered in the centre . `` What time shall we march tomorrow ? ''