midnight
I sat close beside Elza in the semi-darkness , gazing down through the pit-rail window to where the island was dropping away beneath us . It was a perfect night ; the moon had set ; the stars and planets gleamed in an almost cloudless sky . Red Mars , I saw , very nearly over our heads . It was now midnight , and for the moment we chanced to have the air to ourselves . We rose to the 10,000-foot level , then headed directly North . It carried us inland ; soon the sea was out of sight behind . Lights dotted the landscape -- a town or city here and there , and occasionally a tower .