midnight
But as before , the mounds were alive with serpents that evidently made them their homes , and raised an angry hiss whenever the men approached . `` The wonder to me , '' said Bearwarden , `` is , that these snakes do not protect the game , by keeping it from the life-devouring plants . It may be that they do not show themselves by day or when the victims are near , or that the quadrupeds on which these plants live take a pleasure , like deer , in killing them by jumping with all four feet upon their backs or in some other way , and after that are entrapped by the flowers . '' Shortly after midnight they rested for a half hour , but the dawn found them trudging along steadily , though somewhat wearily , and having about completed the third side of their square . Accordingly , they soon made a right-angle turn to the left , and had been picking their way over the rough ground for nearly two hours , with the sun already high in the sky , when they noticed a diminution of light . Glancing up , they saw that one of the moons was passing across the sun , and that they were on the eve of a total eclipse . `` Since all but the fifth moon , '' said Cortlandt , `` revolve exactly in the plane of Jupiter 's equator , any inhabitants that settle there will become accustomed to eclipses , for there must be one of the sun , and also of the moons , at each revolution , or about forty-five hundred in every Jovian year .