five
o'clock in the morning
The evening of this third of December wore away without further incident . As soon as Barbican had announced that the Projectile was still winging its way , though with retarded velocity , towards the lunar disc , the travellers quietly retired to rest . -LSB- Illustration : POOR SATELLITE WAS DROPPED OUT . -RSB- On the fourth of December , the Projectile chronometers marked five o'clock in the morning , just as the travellers woke up from a pleasant slumber . They had now been 54 hours on their journey . As to lapse of _ time _ , they had passed not much more than half of the number of hours during which their trip was to last ; but , as to lapse of _ space _ , they had already accomplished very nearly the seven-tenths of their passage . This difference between time and distance was due to the regular retardation of their velocity .