1:30 a.m.
`` Ay , ay , lad -- I know -- difference of longitude , -- fire away . '' `` Well , I have fired away most of my ammunition now , '' returned Sam , `` and if you do n't haul down your colours , it must be because you have nailed them to the mast and are blind to reason . I may add , however , that the Viceroy of India sent a telegram to the President of the United States , to which he got a reply in seven hours and forty minutes , but the slowness of this message was accounted for by the fact of accidental and partly unavoidable delay in transmission both in Washington and London . At 1:30 a.m. of the 24th the traffic of the line became pressing , and all complimentary messages ceased with one from Bombay , which said , ` Sun just risen ; delightfully cool ; raining . ' '' `` Does n't it seem as if the Baron Monkhausen 's tales were possible after all ? '' remarked Mrs Wright , looking as if her mind had got slightly confused . `` The Baron 's tales are mere child 's - play , mother , '' said Robin , `` to the grand facts of electricity . ''