about 7 a.m.
`` Decidedly , '' said Michel Ardan , when he found himself alone , `` these practical people sometimes do have opportune ideas . '' And stretching out his long legs , and folding his long arms under his head , Michel went to sleep too . But this slumber could neither be durable nor peaceful . Too many preoccupations filled the minds of these three men , and a few hours after , at about 7 a.m. , they all three awoke at once . The projectile was still moving away from the moon , inclining its conical summit more and more towards her . This phenomenon was inexplicable at present , but it fortunately aided the designs of Barbicane . Another seventeen hours and the time for action would have come .