noon
Not once did she look at us ; but I could see her bosom heaving with excitement beneath her calico , and her nostrils wide . She was a remarkably pretty girl ; and this was certainly the moment of her triumph . We fell into sanity as respects our hours of work and the way we went at it . Often we took as much as an hour and a half off at noon ; or quit work early in the day . Then it was pleasant to sit with other miners under the trees or in the shade by the stream swapping yarns , doing our mending or washing , and generally getting acquainted . As each man 's product was his own , no one cared how much or how little the others worked . Simply when he quit , his share ceased .