about four o'clock in the afternoon
Snow also spread more abundantly below , and the only trees were clumps of pine and spruce in the lower valleys . Kurt went with three men into the still intact gas-chambers , let out a certain quantity of gas from them , and prepared a series of ripping panels for the descent . Also the residue of the bombs and explosives in the magazine were thrown overboard and fell , detonating loudly , in the wilderness below . And about four o'clock in the afternoon upon a wide and rocky plain within sight of snow-crested cliffs , the Vaterland ripped and grounded . It was necessarily a difficult and violent affair , for the Vaterland had not been planned for the necessities of a balloon . The captain got one panel ripped too soon and the others not soon enough . She dropped heavily , bounced clumsily , and smashed the hanging gallery into the fore-part , mortally injuring Von Winterfeld , and then came down in a collapsing heap after dragging for some moments .