seven o'clock
For once Tom Reade was in grave error , as subsequent events proved . `` It 's ten minutes of seven , '' Harry reminded him . `` Get ready , men , '' Tom shouted to their few laborers , who were enjoying a few minutes leisure after breakfast . At seven o'clock the young engineers and their handful of toilers moved over to the point in the outcropping vein of ore that Reade had selected for their first blast . A small portable engine had already been fired , and all was ready for turning on the steam drill . Twenty minutes later a satisfactory boring had been made . `` Bring up the dynamite , '' called Tom .