noon
Still the canal was being built , yard by yard , rod by rod , until by the middle of January another mile of the total was finished . The two camps were now easily within sight of each other , the larger in the south , the smaller in the north , and but three miles apart across the sagebrush . Moreover , the last stones of the dam had been laid ; it stood completed ; and the men who had been engaged there moved down to add their strength to the north camp . One day toward noon Lee entered his office and to his amazement found Ruth seated there , glancing over an old magazine and toasting her feet at the stove . The furs he had given her reposed on his desk , where she had laid them aside . At his entrance she sprang up , uttered a delighted exclamation , and rushing forward clasped her arms about his neck and kissed him . `` Lee , how good it seems to see you ! ''