noon
`` Go down chasm , '' he explained to Rod `` Fin ' where get out to plain . Shoot meat . '' That day the gold hunters were more systematic in their work , beginning close to the fall , one on each side of the stream , and panning their way slowly down the chasm . By noon they had covered two hundred yards , and their only reward was a tiny bit of gold , worth no more than a dollar , which Rod had found in his pan . By the time darkness again compelled them to stop they had prospected a quarter of a mile down stream without discovering other signs of John Ball 's treasure . In spite of their failure they were less discouraged than the previous evening , for this failure , in a way , was having a sedative and healthful effect . It convinced them that there was a hard and perhaps long task ahead of them , and that they could not expect to find their treasure winnowed in yellow piles for them .