eight o'clock
By the position of the sun , as it slowly mounted from the horizon , I realized that we were advancing toward the south . Hence if this direction had not been changed during the night this was the Gulf of Mexico which lay beneath us . A hot day was announced by the heavy livid clouds which clung to the horizon . These warnings of a coming storm did not escape the eye of Robur when toward eight o'clock he came on deck and took Turner 's place at the helm . Perhaps the cloud-bank recalled to him the waterspout in which the `` Albatross '' had so nearly been destroyed , or the mighty cyclone from which he had escaped only as if by a miracle above the Antarctic Sea . It is true that the forces of Nature which had been too strong for the `` Albatross , '' might easily be evaded by this lighter and more versatile machine . It could abandon the sky where the elements were in battle and descend to the surface of the sea ; and if the waves beat against it there too heavily , it could always find calm in the tranquil depths .