an hour after midnight
A few steps from the furnace a thick and smooth plate of iron was placed on a heavy wooden table , and upon this the liquid glass was to be poured out to cool . `` It must be time , '' said Beroviero , `` unless the boys forgot to turn the sand-glass at one of the watches . The hour is all but run out , and it must be the twelfth since I put in the materials . '' `` I turned it myself , an hour after midnight , '' said Zorzi , `` and also the next time , when it was dawn . It runs three hours . Judging by the time of sunrise it is running right . '' `` Then make the trial . ''