eight o'clock
I thought of our warm little room at Pfalzbourg , the table with its white cloth , Father Goulden with his plate before him , while Catherine served the rich hot soup and the smoked cutlets on the gridiron . My present sufferings and troubles overwhelmed me , and if wishing for death only had been necessary to rid me of them , I should have long ago been out of this world . The night was dark , and if it had not been for the ruts , into which we plunged to our knees at every step , we should have found it difficult to keep the road ; as it was , we had only to march in the mud to be sure we were right . Between seven and eight o'clock we heard in the distance something like thunder . Some said : `` It is a thunder-storm ! '' others , `` It is cannon ! '' Great numbers of disbanded soldiers were following us .