three o'clock
With these words , the commandant , finding his presence no longer necessary , hastened away . The firing on both sides continued till midnight . Then the Freibergers heard loud sounds of confusion and disturbance and much shouting in the Swedish camp ; but the dreaded general assault was still unaccountably delayed . Between two and three o'clock on the morning of February 17th , there arrived at the city moat an Imperialist soldier , who had been taken prisoner by the Swedes before Leipzig , and had now made his escape . On being admitted into the town , he announced that the enemy were making hasty preparations for departure , that the military stores were already loaded , and that he himself had been employed with others in removing the charges from the Swedish mines . This joyful and unexpected news passed rapidly from mouth to mouth , and put the whole city in a ferment . Hope turned to glad certainty , when , at break of day , the enemy 's army , with its artillery and baggage-waggons , was seen marching away from the city , and taking the road towards Klein-Waltersdorf ; although four or five hundred Swedish dragoons still held the Hospital Church , whence they fired on the town and on all who issued from it .