five o'clock
`` The court , despairing and thirsty , had adjourned to meet at seven o'clock . In the jury-room all arguments for and against the stand taken by the unshaken eight seemed exhausted . The hours dragged wearily by . At half-past five o'clock , to our great surprise , three of the obstinate crowd came over to our way of thinking . Whether stern duty , our mutual discomfort , or the prospect of another night away from their families wrought this , I know not . So then , with the single exception of Colonel Ross , we were all for stringing up the prisoner . `` Colonel Ross still stuck out doggedly for a milder punishment -- anything to save the poor devil 's life , he said .