three in the evening
`` The Cambridge Observatory 's note says that the transit ought to be accomplished in ninety-seven hours thirteen minutes and twenty seconds ; which means to say , that _ sooner _ the moon will _ not _ be at the point indicated , and _ later _ it will have passed it . '' `` True , '' replied Barbicane . `` But we started the 1st of December , at thirteen minutes and twenty-five seconds to eleven at night ; and we ought to arrive on the 5th at midnight , at the exact moment when the moon would be full ; and we are now at the 5th of December . It is now half-past three in the evening ; half-past eight ought to see us at the end of our journey . Why do we not arrive ? '' `` Might it not be an excess of speed ? '' answered Nicholl ; `` for we know now that its initial velocity was greater than they supposed . ''