noon
And sometimes -- now , I do n't want you to get sore and cuss me -- it seemed to me as if your mind wa 'n' t altogether on the job ! As if the Cross did n't mean everything . '' He waited expectantly for a moment , as if inviting a confidence ; then , observing that the younger man was flushed , and not looking at him , grinned knowingly , and trudged out of the office , calling back as he went : `` There 'll be sump water in the creek in half an hour . '' As if imbued with new energy , he ordered one of the idle millmen to act as stoker , if he cared to do so , which was cheerfully done , had the extra pump attached , saw the fire roaring from another boiler , and by noon the shaft rang with the steady throb of the pistons pounding and pulling the waste water upward . The last of the unwatering of the Cross was going forward in haste . By six o'clock in the evening he reported that soundings showed that the map had not been checked up , and that the shaft was seven hundred and ten feet deep , and that they would commence a drift on the seven-hundred-foot mark the next day . Dick was awakened at an early hour , and found Bill missing .