about 3 p.m.
All the effect took place outside . The exploding mixture had been already rammed into each gun . All they had to do , therefore , was to take up the metallic buffers fixed in the base , and to put these cannons in their place , where they fitted exactly . This fresh work was ended about 3 p.m. , and all precaution taken they had now nothing to do but to wait . In the meantime the projectile visibly drew nearer the moon . It was , therefore , submitted in some proportion to its influence ; but its own velocity also inclined it in an oblique line . Perhaps the result of these two influences would be a line that would become a tangent .