noon
Moreover , we do not yet know if we are beyond the seventieth parallel . '' `` I do not in the least regret the journey I have taken in your company , Lieutenant , and I shall patiently wait until next year for my eclipse . The fair Phœbe , I fancy , is a sufficiently grand lady to be waited for . '' The next day , July 6th , a little after noon , Hobson and the astronomer made their preparations for taking the exact bearings of Cape Bathurst . The sun shone clearly enough for them to take the outlines exactly . At this season of the year , too , it had reached its maximum height above the horizon ; and consequently its culmination , on its transit across the meridian , would facilitate the work of the two observers . Already the night before , and the same morning , by raking different altitudes , and by means of a calculation of right ascensions , the Lieutenant and the astronomer had ascertained the longitude with great accuracy .