nine o'clock
It was true , for the clouds were rolling back and the centre of the heavens was a patch of blue . The storm was coming -- I could smell it in the air -- but probably it would n't break till the evening . Where , I wondered , would we be by that time ? It was now nine o'clock , and I was keeping tight hold on myself , for I saw that I was going to have hell for the next hours . I am a pretty stolid fellow in some ways , but I have always found patience and standing still the most difficult job to tackle , and my nerves were all tattered from the long strain of the retreat . I went up to the line and saw the battalion commanders . Everything was unwholesomely quiet there .