At five-fifteen the sky was getting lighter and already one could make out objects distinctly in the fields below.

The long hand of my watch was at five-twenty-five.
The fields, the roads, and the hedges were beginning to show the difference of colour in the early light.

Five-twenty-seven! In (p.

168) three minutes the rain of death was to begin.

In the awful silence around it seemed as if Nature were holding her breath in expectation of the staggering moment.