two in
the morning
Blows of an ice-axe ringing on the hard snow , the roll of the ice blocks thus detached , alone broke the silence of the _ névé _ on which the steps of the caravan made no sound . From minute to minute , a cry , a smothered groan , the fall of a body on the ice , and then immediately a strong voice sounding from the end of the rope : `` Go gently , Gonzague , and do n't fall . '' For poor Bompard had made up his mind to follow his friend Tartarin to the summit of Mont Blanc . Since two in the morning -- it was now four by the president 's repeater -- the hapless courier had groped along , a galley slave on the chain , dragged , pushed , vacillating , balking , compelled to restrain the varied exclamations extorted from him by his mishaps , for an avalanche was on the watch , and the slightest concussion , a mere vibration of the crystalline air , might send down its masses of snow and ice . To suffer in silence ! what torture to a native of Tarascon ! But the caravan halted .