two o'clock in the morning
It was a resource he had often fallen back on in difficult conjunctures . Nor did it fail him now . Though it was not a project that claimed to affect either the velocity or the direction of the Projectile , still , as it was eminently practicable and not only unattended by no inconvenience on the one hand but evidently fraught with many advantages on the other , it met with decided and instantaneous success . It was rather an early hour for breakfast , two o'clock in the morning , yet the meal was keenly relished . Ardan served it up in charming style and crowned the dessert with a few bottles of a wine especially selected for the occasion from his own private stock . It was a _ Tokay Imperial _ of 1863 , the genuine _ Essenz _ , from Prince Esterhazy 's own wine cellar , and the best brain stimulant and brain clearer in the world , as every connoisseur knows . It was near four o'clock in the morning when our travellers , now well fortified physically and morally , once more resumed their observations with renewed courage and determination , and with a system of recording really perfect in its arrangements .