Half after twelve
`` We could n't have turned in the ice stratum , Perry , I know as well as you , '' I replied ; `` but the fact remains that we did , for here we are this minute at the surface of the earth again , and I am going out to see just where . '' `` Better wait till morning , David -- it must be midnight now . '' I glanced at the chronometer . `` Half after twelve . We have been out seventy-two hours , so it must be midnight . Nevertheless I am going to have a look at the blessed sky that I had given up all hope of ever seeing again , '' and so saying I lifted the bars from the inner door , and swung it open . There was quite a quantity of loose material in the jacket , and this I had to remove with a shovel to get at the opposite door in the outer shell .