twelve o'clock
Thrice a day the contents of the cradle were cleared entirely out , and the gold that had sunk to the bottom collected . Much , of it was in fine dust , but there was also a large number of nuggets , varying in size from a pea to a marble . Each clear-up they obtained on an average eight or nine pounds of gold . The fourth day Tom had come down from above at twelve o'clock , and found that the men had only just finished the clear-up , and had sat down to have some food . Having nothing to do , he strolled away to the spot where the Mexicans had been massacred , a short distance away , on some ground at the side of the valley . Some three or four feet above the ground level of the bottom he saw a charred stump of a pole sticking up ; he went across to it . `` I suppose this is where the leader of the party had a tent or rough hut , '' he said .