Two o'clock in the morning
Their orders were , that , at the firing of a gun at daybreak , when the stores opened , they were to rush through the business district , setting fires everywhere and killing the white men and the gendarmerie . Benoit believed that , while his men could not withstand a pitched battle with the Marines , they could sweep the town in guerilla fashion when the Marines were scattered here and there , putting out fires . Moreover , the Cacos general was sure that , once a massacre of the whites was begun , race hatred would put all the black population on his side . Two o'clock in the morning came . Mr. Elliott , manager of a sugar refinery at Hascoville , a suburb two miles out of the city , was sleepless , and a vague uneasiness possessed him . Thinking that the fresh air might be beneficial , he went to a window and looked out . `` Out of the myriad hissing , rustling and squawking noises of a tropic night , he heard the unmistakable ` chuff-chuff-chuff ' of a marching column of barefoot men .