about 1 a.m
`` It is evident , '' answered Lieutenant Bronsfield , `` that J.T. Maston will go and join his friends one of these days . '' `` If he will have me , '' exclaimed the midshipman , `` I am ready to go with him . '' `` Oh , there will be plenty of amateurs , and if they are allowed to go , half the inhabitants of the earth will soon have emigrated to the moon ! '' This conversation between the officers of the Susquehanna was kept up till about 1 a.m. . It would be impossible to transcribe the overwhelming systems and theories which were emitted by these audacious minds . Since Barbicane 's attempt it seemed that nothing was impossible to Americans . They had already formed the project of sending , not another commission of _ savants _ , but a whole colony , and a whole army of infantry , artillery , and cavalry to conquer the lunar world .