Midnight
The noise was caused , by the bamboos , which , as the flames reached them , exploded like fireworks . The noise was enough to terrify even the boldest of wild beasts . It was not the engineer who had invented this way of causing loud explosions , for , according to Marco Polo , the Tartars have employed it for many centuries to drive away from their encampments the formidable wild beasts of Central Asia . Proposal to return by the Southern Shore -- Configuration of the Coast -- Searching for the supposed Wreck -- A Wreck in the Air -- Discovery of a small Natural Port -- At Midnight on the Banks of the Mercy -- The Canoe Adrift . Cyrus Harding and his companions slept like innocent marmots in the cave which the jaguar had so politely left at their disposal . At sunrise all were on the shore at the extremity of the promontory , and their gaze was directed towards the horizon , of which two-thirds of the circumference were visible . For the last time the engineer could ascertain that not a sail nor the wreck of a ship was on the sea , and even with the telescope nothing suspicious could be discovered .