nine o'clock
The world did not yet know that the automobile and boat could also transform itself into a flying machine . Until now , it had never been seen in the air . And would not this fourth transformation be carefully concealed , until the day when the Master of the World chose to put into execution his insensate menaces ? Toward nine o'clock profound obscurity enwrapped the hollow . Not a star looked down on us . Heavy clouds driven by a keen eastern wind covered the entire sky . The passage of the `` Terror '' would be invisible , not only in our immediate neighborhood , but probably across all the American territory and even the adjoining seas .