midday
`` I think , '' he said , `` that when the Cross shuts down for good , I 'd like to give you a job . When it does , come and see me . '' Without another look , word , or sign of interest , he turned his back on them , and marched up the hill toward the Rattler . August had come , with its broiling heat at midday and its chill at night , when the snow , perpetual on the peaks , sent its cold breezes downward to the gulches below . Here and there the grass was dying . The lines on Dick 's brows had become visible ; and even Mathews ' resolute sanguinity was being tested to the utmost . The green lead was barely paying expenses .