noon
For three nights , now , I 'd corked off solid until seven ack emma and I 'd come alive in the morning fine , fit , and fresh . But on the following morning , Mr. Mullaney was missing . I never saw him again . At noon , or thereabouts , the end of the ring finger on my left hand was as solid as a rock . I could squeeze it in a door or burn it with a cigarette ; I got into a little habit of scratching kitchen matches on it as I tried to dig into the solid flesh with my perception . I growled a bit at my fate , but not much . It was about this time , too , that the slight itch began to change .