a quarter to seven
This altitude was maintained until the sun had set magnificently beneath the cloud horizon , when the four men entered the pilot-house and , the professor taking charge as pilot , the descent to Pargolovo was very leisurely commenced . The chateau of Count Vasilovich was situate on the western side of the lake and on the northern slope of the hills that stretch away in the direction of Konnaia , at a point as nearly as possible eight miles from the northern bank of the Neva ; and as soon as the _ Flying Fish _ emerged from the stratum of cloud that shrouded the landscape , the professor went out on deck with his binoculars to look for the spot at which he had decided that the great ship was to be brought to earth . He soon found it , and shouted his instructions to Mildmay , who was tending the helm and the engines ; and twenty minutes later the descent was quietly and safely accomplished , the _ Flying Fish _ finding a very easy berth among some trees , within a hundred yards of the road leading from the park entrance to the chateau , and within a mile of the latter . It was by this time a quarter to seven , Russian time . The professor , therefore , and Mildmay , who had volunteered to accompany him , quickly made their way down the spiral staircase to the trap-door in the bottom of the ship , and let themselves out , carefully closing the trap behind them . The night was overcast , dark , and inclined to be stormy , a cold , bleak , blusterous , northerly breeze was blowing off the lake and roaring through the branches of the leafless trees , and the look of the sky threatened rain ; yet the wide , white carriage-drive loomed up ghostly through the darkness , and presently , when the eyes of the watchers grew accustomed to the gloom , they found that it would be easy for them to discern a mounted figure on the road at a distance of a hundred yards or so . They sheltered themselves under the lee of a giant elm , and set themselves patiently to await in silence the approach of their unsuspecting prey .