seven o’clock in the morning
Indeed , a bright light appeared twenty miles to the northeast . Lincoln Island was there , and this fire , evidently lighted by Cyrus Harding , showed them the course to be followed . Pencroft , who was bearing too much to the north , altered his course and steered towards the fire , which burned brightly above the horizon like a star of the first magnitude . The next day , the 20th of October , at seven o'clock in the morning , after a voyage of four days , the `` Bonadventure '' gently glided up to the beach at the mouth of the Mercy . Cyrus Harding and Neb , who had become very uneasy at the bad weather and the prolonged absence of their companions , had climbed at daybreak to the plateau of Prospect Heights , and they had at last caught sight of the vessel which had been so long in returning . `` God be praised ! there they are ! ''