midnight
If I could recover Martha , if , in this serene atmosphere of good will and fairness and kindness , in the midst of unknown possibilities of knowledge , in the company of enthusiastic and high-minded men and women , in this arena of scientific wonders , and in the joy and beauty of universal happiness and thrift and peace and well doing and intuition , I could find a human companionship in the woman whose face and nature have summed up for me the whole of life , if I could find her ! then , indeed , this new world would be all my earthly home could be , and the endless future with her for guide and friend would lose its terror and lonely isolation , and -- I dared to think it -- even the presence of God himself become bearable . `` Chapman had stolen away from me . He had stolen to the little , dainty rooms that were sunk in the cockpit or cabin of our boat , and I was standing alone in the light of the midnight moons in Mars , a waif from the far earth , incomprehensibly born after death into this human presentiment and renewal in youth , and again instinct with revivified passion and desire ; and breathing the atmosphere of a planet that for years I had watched through the tube of a telescope , as a floating flake of celestial fire . A delicious drowsiness overcame me , and while I noticed the pilot was changed , his place being taken by another , and that we were approaching a ridgy or disturbed country , I found my way to the white couch prepared for me , and sank into a deep and dreamless sleep . `` The morning of the next day was clear and beautiful . Shall I ever forget that first approach to the mountains of Tiniti , where Mit and Sinsi , the villages of the quarries , are located .