At what point in "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" does the reader get the first hint that the escape is a hallucination?

In Part III
with the distortion of time and the illusionary nature of the narrative, the reader begins to
suspect that Peyton Farquhar merely imagines his escape.

Certainly, the break
from the typical realistic style of 's narrative in Part III of "" alerts readers that
the story may be taking a different direction. In fact, there is a direct change from the
matter-of-fact tone of Part II to the stirring plunge into the stream-of-consciousness narrative
in Part III. For instance, in this section of the story, Farquhar seems to be merely an observer
of his own hands that struggle to free the rope around his neck. Then, when he is freed from the
noose, he believes that he has called out to his hands to put the rope back.

"Put it back! Put it back!" He thought he shouted these
words to his hands, for the undoing of the noose had been succeeded by the direst pang that he
had yet experienced. His neck ached horribly; his brain was on fire; his heart...gave a great
leap, trying to force itself out at his mouth. His whole body was racked and wrenched with an
insupportable anguish!

In reality, this is probably the
point at which Peyton Farquhar has been hanged.

There are other incidents in
this section which seem unrealistic and hallucinatory. For instance, after Farquhar comes to the
surface of the water, he sees the bridge and the soldiers standing upon it, particularly the
captain, the sergeant, and the two privates that have been assigned as his executioners. When
these soldiers spot him, they behave oddly. The captain draws his pistol "but did not
fire," and the other soldiers "were unarmed."

Their movements were grotesque and horrible, their forms gigantic.

Certainly, this description of the soldiers seems unrealistic, and
it creates a credibility gap with the first part of the narrative. This gap should also suggest
to the reader that the escape is merely Farquhar's hallucination.