CHAPTER VI.
INSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATION.
On the fourth of December, the Projectile chronometers marked five o'clock in the morning, just as the travellers woke up from a pleasant slumber.

They had now been 54 hours on their journey.

As to lapse of _time_, they had passed not much more than half of the number of hours during which their trip was to last; but, as to lapse of _space_, they had already accomplished very nearly the seven-tenths of their passage.
This difference between time and distance was due to the regular retardation of their velocity.
They looked at the earth through the floor-light, but it was little more than visible--a black spot drowned in the solar rays.

No longer any sign of a crescent, no longer any sign of ashy light.

Next day, towards midnight, the Earth was to be _new_, at the precise moment when the Moon was to be _full_.