Midnight
`` Oh , for my sight again ! Oh , that I might see them once , only once , those wonderful things of ancient story ! Then , verily , I should be glad to die ! '' Midnight . Hard-driven now for many hours , heated , yet still running true , the Pauillac had at length made a safe landing on the western verge of the Abyss . Again the voyagers felt solid earth beneath their feet . By the clear starlight Stern had brought the machine to earth on a little plateau , wooded in part , partly bare sand .