six o'clock in the morning of the 8th January
The moon shone in the midst of the constellations of the zenith . The night slipped away without any mischance , the islanders frightened no doubt at the sight of a monster aground in the bay . The panels were open , and would have offered an easy access to the interior of the Nautilus . At six o'clock in the morning of the 8th January I went up on to the platform . The dawn was breaking . The island soon showed itself through the dissipating fogs , first the shore , then the summits . The natives were there , more numerous than on the day before -- five or six hundred perhaps -- some of them , profiting by the low water , had come on to the coral , at less than two cable-lengths from the Nautilus .