six o'clock
The Moon now appeared to the travellers as she does to us towards the beginning of her Second Quarter , that is as a bright crescent instead of a hemisphere . On one side , glaring dazzling light ; on the other , cavernous pitchy darkness . The line separating both was broken into a thousand bits of protuberances and concavities , dented , notched , and jagged . At six o'clock the travellers found themselves exactly over the north pole . They were quietly gazing at the rapidly shifting features of the wondrous view unrolling itself beneath them , and were silently wondering what was to come next , when , suddenly , the Projectile passed the dividing line . The Sun and Moon instantly vanished from view . The next moment , without the slightest warning the travellers found themselves plunged in an ocean of the most appalling darkness !