"We cannot say why unless we admit that the prison has moved; and I
say again that if the prison had moved, either as a vehicle on the
road or a boat on the stream, we should have felt it."

Here Frycollin gave vent to a long groan, which might have been taken
for his last had he not followed it up with several more.

"I expect Robur will soon have us brought before him," said Phil
Evans.

"I hope so," said Uncle Prudent. "And I shall tell him --"

"What?"

"That he began by being rude and ended in being unbearable."

Here Phil Evans noticed that day was beginning to break. A gleam,
still faint, filtered through the narrow window opposite the door. It
ought thus to be about four o'clock in the morning for it is at that
hour in the month of June in this latitude that the horizon of
Philadelphia is tinged by the first rays of the dawn.

But when Uncle Prudent sounded his repeater--which was a masterpiece
from his colleague's factory--the tiny gong only gave a quarter to
three, and the watch had not stopped.

"That is strange!" said Phil Evans. "At a quarter to three it ought
still to be night".

"Perhaps my watch has got slow," answered Uncle Prudent.