As the balloon lost altitude, the men took of their clothes and threw them overboard to decrease the weight of the balloon. The balloon continued to drop so the men drew straws to see who would be forced to jump. The dead man in the desert drew the shortest one (the half toothpick).

It would be 9:00 pm. There are 12 hours between 1:00 pm and 1:00 am and half of that is six hours. Half-way between would be 7 o’clock. Two hours later it would be 9:00 o’clock.