midnight
`` Yes , its delivery means life or death -- for Heaven 's sake , take me to him ! '' For a single breathless moment Brown hesitated , his eyes on the girl 's upturned face , evidently questioning her real purpose . `` I c-can ' t right n-now , Miss , '' he finally acknowledged , gravely ; `` that 's s-straight ; fer ye s-s-see , he 's down the ` I-I-Independence ' shaft . '' It was a daring ruse that had taken Ned Winston down the shaft of the `` Independence '' mine with the midnight shift . Not even the professional enthusiasm of a young engineer could serve to justify so vast a risk , but somehow this battle of right and wrong had become a personal struggle between himself and Farnham ; he felt , without understanding clearly why , that the real stake involved was well worth the venture , and would prove in the end of infinitely more value to him than any settlement of the mere mining claims at issue . For several hours he had been below in the tunnel of the `` Little Yankee , '' measuring distances , and sampling the grade of ore . All the afternoon and much of the early night had been utilized in a careful exploration of the surface ledges ; creeping in , under protection of the low-growing cedars , as closely as a vigilant rifle-guard would permit , to the great ore dump of the busy `` Independence '' ; diligently studying their system of labor , and slowly crystallizing into shape his later plan of action .