noon
However , to consider the probable , there 'll be a meeting of creditors , and perhaps enough after the sale to buy us a Colonist ticket to British Columbia . Anyway , we 'll ride out to-morrow and call on the road surveyor . '' It may have been because we were young , or the suspense had brought its own reaction , but a faint hope commenced to spring up within us , and now , when at least we knew the worst , we were both more tranquil than we had been for the last three days , while I slept peacefully until Harry roused me with the news that breakfast was ready . We started at noon , and before the sun crossed the meridian the next day we found the surveyor busy beside the new steel road which stretched out across the prairie from the trunk line so many fathoms daily . He was a native Canadian , emphatic in gesture , curt in speech , with , as we say here , a snap about him , and he looked us over critically as I explained that we were willing to work for him . I fancied there was satisfaction in his gaze , and this was not unlikely , for we were both lean , hard , and bronzed , while our old stained canvas garments told their own tale of sturdy toil . `` Guess I could let you a track-grading contract , '' he said meditatively .