five in the evening
The excitement increased , nobody felt any interest in his work . We soon learned through the commercial travellers , who arrived at the `` City of Basle , '' that the upper Rhine provinces and the Jura had risen , and that regiments of cavalry and infantry were following each other from Besançon , and that heavy forces had been sent against the usurper . One of these travellers having spoken rather too freely , was ordered to quit the town at once , the brigadier in command having examined his passport and , fortunately for him , found it properly made out . I have seen other revolutions since then , but never such excitement as reigned on the 8th of March between four and five in the evening , when the order arrived for the departure of the first and second battalions fully equipped for service for Lons-le-Saulnier . It was only then that the danger was fully realized , and every one thought , `` It is not the Duke d'Angoulême nor the Duke de Berry that we need to arrest the progress of Bonaparte , but the whole of Europe . '' The faces of the officers on half-pay lighted up as with a burst of sunshine , and they breathed freely again . About five o'clock the first roll of the drum was heard on the square , when suddenly Zébédé rushed in .