noon
The boys in turn hacked out great pieces of quartz and rubbed the free gold loose . Much of it could only be crushed out in machinery made for the purpose , but a sufficient quantity of the quartz was poor and soft . As the boys worked , they grew more and more silent , more and more absorbed . They forgot their delight in rodeo , coliar , bear-hunts , bull-fights , riding about the ranches from morning till noon , the race , the religious processions , the dulces of their mothers ' cooks . A new and mighty passion possessed them , the strongest they had ever known . Their lips were pressed hard together -- those soft Spanish lips that were usually half apart -- their eyes glowed with a steady fire . Their chests rose and fell in short regular spasms .