midnight
We must not be doleful , Sir Max , we must be -- we must be -- happy and brave . '' Her poor little effort to be happy and brave was piteous . Castleman soon fell back with Yolanda , and Max rode forward beside me . At midnight we offsaddled by a stream in a forest and allowed our horses and mules to rest until sunrise . Then we took up our journey again , and by forced marches reached Metz one morning an hour before dawn . We waited in a drizzling rain till the gates opened , and , after a long parley with the warder , entered the city . We were all nearly exhausted , and our poor mules staggered along the streets hardly able to carry their burdens another step .