a few minutes
before noon
The storm continued to rage for three days , and as far as the wind scarce varied a point during all that time , I knew that we must be far beyond thirty , drifting rapidly east by south . All this time it had been impossible to work upon the damaged engines or the gravity-screen generators ; but we had a full set of instruments upon the bridge , for Alvarez , after discovering my intentions , had fetched the reserve instruments from his own cabin , where he had hidden them . Those which Johnson had seen him destroy had been a third set which only Alvarez had known was aboard the Coldwater . We waited impatiently for the sun , that we might determine our exact location , and upon the fourth day our vigil was rewarded a few minutes before noon . Every officer and man aboard was tense with nervous excitement as we awaited the result of the reading . The crew had known almost as soon as I that we were doomed to cross thirty , and I am inclined to believe that every man jack of them was tickled to death , for the spirits of adventure and romance still live in the hearts of men of the twenty-second century , even though there be little for them to feed upon between thirty and one hundred seventy-five . The men carried none of the burdens of responsibility .