midday
The last visitor to Surprise Lake , was Smoke 's conclusion , as he picked up a lump of gold as large as his doubled fist . Beside the lump was a pepper-can filled with nuggets of the size of walnuts , rough-surfaced , showing no signs of wash . So true had the tale run that Smoke accepted without question that the source of the gold was the lake 's bottom . Under many feet of ice and inaccessible , there was nothing to be done , and at midday , from the rim of the palisade , he took a farewell look back and down at his find . `` It 's all right , Mr. Lake , '' he said . `` You just keep right on staying there . I 'm coming back to drain you -- if that hoodoo does n't catch me .