30 September, 4 A.M.
Just at this moment a circumstance , the most unexpected , the most extraordinary and incredible , occurred to rouse afresh their panting spirits , and to throw every mind into a state of the most violent excitement . One day , the 30th of September , at 3:47 P.M. , a telegram , transmitted by cable from Valentia -LRB- Ireland -RRB- to Newfoundland and the American Mainland , arrived at the address of President Barbicane . The president tore open the envelope , read the dispatch , and , despite his remarkable powers of self-control , his lips turned pale and his eyes grew dim , on reading the twenty words of this telegram . Here is the text of the dispatch , which figures now in the archives of the Gun Club : FRANCE , PARIS , 30 September , 4 A.M. Barbicane , Tampa Town , Florida , United States . Substitute for your spherical shell a cylindro-conical projectile . I shall go inside . Shall arrive by steamer Atlanta .