noon
I 'll take either end -- ten to one we do n't get out -- ten to two we 're shot up and not killed -- ten to three we are arrested but not killed -- one to ten we pull through with whole skins . '' Estridge smiled . They remained silent , probably preoccupied with the hazards of their respective fortunes . It grew colder toward noon . The young man seated beside Estridge in the sleigh smoked continually . He was attached to one of the American missions sent into Russia by an optimistic administration -- a mission , as a whole , foredoomed to political failure . In every detail , too , it had already failed , excepting only in that particular part played by this young man , whose name was Brisson .