eight o'clock in the morning
But for the extraordinary rapidity of our ascent we should have been stifled . Nevertheless , the Professor did not carry out his proposition of abandoning the raft ; and he did quite wisely . Those few ill-joined beams offered , anyway , a solid surface -- a support which elsewhere must have utterly failed us . Towards eight o'clock in the morning a new incident startled us . The ascensional movement suddenly ceased . The raft became still and motionless . `` What is the matter now ? ''