about midnight
cried Billy , in dismayed tones . They all looked blank as they awaited the reply . Frank glanced at his watch and then at the compass and made a rapid mental calculation . `` At the rate we are going we should be over the South Pole , roughly speaking , at about midnight , '' he said . The professor was the first to break the tense silence that followed Frank 's words . `` Into the heart of the Antarctic , '' he breathed . There seemed to be something in the words that threw a spell of awed silence over them all .