midnight
`` Disher jumpin ' has always been in ma fambly , howebber . We had some great jumpers down Souf befo ' de War . '' The boys hurried to finish the repairs . It was some time after midnight when they pronounced the _ Snowbird _ again ready for flight . The professor had to be urged more than once to leave his telescope , however ; and then he insisted upon setting it up on the deck of the flying machine . He would not discuss the situation at all ; but his serious visage and his anxious manner betrayed to them all that he was disturbed indeed by the strange , pale planet he had so closely examined . Mr. Roebach turned loose his dogs again and climbed gingerly aboard the flying machine .