noon
The concrete of the dam must have a solid wall to which to tie and drift after drift must be driven and filled to supply this wall . Jim would trust no one 's judgment but his own in this work . He stayed on the dam all the morning , watching the shale and rock and directing the foremen . At noon he went to the lower mess where he could talk with the masonry workers . Five hundred workmen were polishing off their plates in the great room . Jim chuckled as he sat down with Henderson at one of the long tables . `` If I could get the _ hombres _ to work as fast as they eat , '' he said , `` I could take a year off the allotted time for the dam . ''