twenty minutes past ten
It was 10.20 p.m. by Nicholl 's chronometer when the three travellers were definitely walled up in their bullet . This chronometer was regulated to the tenth of a second by that of the engineer , Murchison . Barbicane looked at it . `` My friends , '' said he , `` it is twenty minutes past ten ; at thirteen minutes to eleven Murchison will set fire to the Columbiad ; at that minute precisely we shall leave our spheroid . We have , therefore , still seven-and-twenty minutes to remain upon earth . '' `` Twenty-six minutes and thirteen seconds , '' answered the methodical Nicholl . `` Very well ! ''