midday sun
And if I could not , of what value was all this vast storehouse of potential civilization and progress to be to the world of my adoption ? Upon the other hand , if I remained here alone with it , what could I accomplish single-handed ? Nothing . But where there was no east , no west , no north , no south , no stars , no moon , and only a stationary midday sun , how was I to find my way back to this spot should ever I get out of sight of it ? I did n't know . For a long time I stood buried in deep thought , when it occurred to me to try out one of the compasses I had brought and ascertain if it remained steadily fixed upon an unvarying pole . I reentered the prospector and fetched a compass without .