nearly midnight before
By ten o'clock , when the reception ended , the boys were exhausted . But the end was not yet . They were riding in Zircon 's jeep -- five jeeps had been assigned to the party by the governor -- and Zircon had to meet the last member of the party , Bradley Connel , a geologist borrowed from an oil company in Caracas , Venezuela , by Dr. Balgos . It was nearly midnight before the boys got to sleep , after nearly three days with minimum rest . So , both were tired . In the middle of thinking how tired he was , Rick dropped off to sleep again . He awoke with Scotty 's voice in his ears .