six o’clock in the morning
I saw its green and red running lights , plus the white lantern hanging from the large stay of its foremast . Hazy flickerings were reflected on its rigging and indicated that its furnaces were pushed to the limit . Showers of sparks and cinders of flaming coal escaped from its funnels , spangling the air with stars . I stood there until six o'clock in the morning , Captain Nemo never seeming to notice me . The vessel lay a mile and a half off , and with the first glimmers of daylight , it resumed its cannonade . The time could n't be far away when the Nautilus would attack its adversary , and my companions and I would leave forever this man I dared not judge . I was about to go below to alert them , when the chief officer climbed onto the platform .