midday
Next , hooking on the ungainly wooden bucket , he lowered it , after which he descended for a second time . There began a long and monotonous series of ascents and descents , for every bucket of gravel meant two journeys the full depth of the pit . It was a tedious and primitive process , involving a tremendous waste of effort , but he was methodical , and each time the tub rose it carried a burden sufficient to tax the strength of two men . He handled it easily , however , and by midday had removed the thawed ground and scraped a sample from close to frost . He laid a light fire , then took the heaping gold-pan under his arm and set off for his cabin , accompanied by the malamutes . When he had prepared and eaten his lunch he seated himself before his panning-tub , a square box half filled with water melted from the creek ice , and began the process of testing his prospect . Having worked down the gravel and sediment to a half-handful , he spread it with a movement of his wrists , leaving stranded at the tail of the black sand a few specks of yellow .