ten o'clock
Now these men , as intelligent as they were bold , had survived the terrible shock at departure , and their journey in their bullet-carriage will be related in its most dramatic as well as in its most singular details . This account will put an end to many illusions and previsions , but it will give a just idea of the various circumstances incidental to such an enterprise , and will set in relief Barbicane 's scientific instincts , Nicholl 's industrial resources , and the humorous audacity of Michel Ardan . Besides , it will prove that their worthy friend J.T. Maston was losing his time when , bending over the gigantic telescope , he watched the course of the moon across the planetary regions . When ten o'clock struck , Michel Ardan , Barbicane , and Nicholl said good-bye to the numerous friends they left upon the earth . The two dogs , destined to acclimatise the canine race upon the lunar continents , were already imprisoned in the projectile . The three travellers approached the orifice of the enormous iron tube , and a crane lowered them to the conical covering of the bullet . There an opening made on purpose let them down into the aluminium vehicle .