Midnight
`` They 'll be useless to us , '' he replied . I thought I had n't heard him right , but I could n't repeat my comment because the captain 's head had already disappeared into its metal covering . I finished harnessing myself , I felt an alpenstock being placed in my hand , and a few minutes later , after the usual procedures , we set foot on the floor of the Atlantic , 300 meters down . Midnight was approaching . The waters were profoundly dark , but Captain Nemo pointed to a reddish spot in the distance , a sort of wide glow shimmering about two miles from the Nautilus . What this fire was , what substances fed it , how and why it kept burning in the liquid mass , I could n't say . Anyhow it lit our way , although hazily , but I soon grew accustomed to this unique gloom , and in these circumstances I understood the uselessness of the Ruhmkorff device .