midnight on the thirtieth of
April
Twenty-five aërial battleships with a hundred and fifty miles an hour speed in them . Here to London in one hour and twenty-five minutes or less , and guns -- you just take a look at those exaggerated peashooters we 've got on deck , and believe me , sir , that if we get one of John Castellan 's _ Flying Fishes _ within six thousand yards of the end of one of those things it will do no more flying , except in very small pieces . '' `` I 'm delighted to hear it , Mr Parmenter , '' replied Lennard , in a low tone , `` for to tell you the truth , we have n't many weeks left now . Something that I can so far neither calculate nor explain has changed the orbit of the comet and it 's due here at midnight on the thirtieth of April . '' `` Great Scott , and this is the nineteenth of March ! Not six weeks ! I guess we 'll have to hurry up with those cannons .