noon
`` You have n't gone deep enough , '' said he , as if it were something he had read in his papers . The gentlemen admitted that at once , but the engineer asked : How did he know that -- `` You have n't made borings yourself , I suppose ? '' And Geissler smiled , as if he had bored hundreds of miles down through the globe , and covered up the holes again after . They kept at it till noon , talking it over this way and that , and at last began to look at their watches . They had brought Geissler down to half a million now , but not a hair 's breadth farther . No ; they must have put him out sorely some way or other . They seemed to think he was anxious to sell , obliged to sell , but he was not -- ho , not a bit ; there he sat , as easy and careless as themselves , and no mistaking it .