noon
Therefore , while his companions slept , the doctor raised the hydrogen in the balloon to an elevated temperature , and the huge globe , filling out by the dilation of the gas , rose straight up in the perpendicular rays of the sun . The doctor searched vainly for a breath of wind , from the height of one hundred feet to that of five miles ; his starting-point remained fatally right below him , and absolute calm seemed to reign , up to the extreme limits of the breathing atmosphere . At length the feeding-supply of water gave out ; the cylinder was extinguished for lack of gas ; the Buntzen battery ceased to work , and the balloon , shrinking together , gently descended to the sand , in the very place that the car had hollowed out there . It was noon ; and solar observations gave nineteen degrees thirty-five minutes east longitude , and six degrees fifty-one minutes north latitude , or nearly five hundred miles from Lake Tchad , and more than four hundred miles from the western coast of Africa . On the balloon taking ground , Kennedy and Joe awoke from their stupor . `` We have halted , '' said the Scot . `` We had to do so , '' replied the doctor , gravely .