About two o’clock in the morning
`` But let us see where we are , '' he said . `` The polar-star there , that does its work honorably in pointing out the direction due north to everybody else , will , most likely , do me that service . '' He discovered , with satisfaction , that the current was taking him toward the northern shore of the lake , and he allowed himself to glide with it . About two o'clock in the morning he disembarked upon a promontory covered with prickly reeds , that proved very provoking and inconvenient even to a philosopher like him ; but a tree grew there expressly to offer him a bed among its branches , and Joe climbed up into it for greater security , and there , without sleeping much , however , awaited the dawn of day . When morning had come with that suddenness which is peculiar to the equatorial regions , Joe cast a glance at the tree which had sheltered him during the last few hours , and beheld a sight that chilled the marrow in his bones . The branches of the tree were literally covered with snakes and chameleons ! The foliage actually was hidden beneath their coils , so that the beholder might have fancied that he saw before him a new kind of tree that bore reptiles for its leaves and fruit .