ten o'clock at night
`` Am I crazy , or what ? '' `` No , I hardly think so , '' smiled Professor Prescott , recovering from his own surprise . `` It is merely that we are in some part of the world quite a few thousand miles removed from India . Back on Kinchinjunga , it is still ten o'clock at night , but here , it is quite obviously daytime . '' `` That must be the explanation , '' Stoddard agreed . `` But it certainly gave me a start at first ! '' Approaching the door , followed by the professor , he peered cautiously out , to confront a desolate stretch of scrubby growth , hemmed in by a background of rugged mountains .