noon
There were perhaps two hours in which it was difficult to see at a distance , but the dawn came early , hence no provision had been made for torches . Five minutes before the hour the night-shift boss lowered the gates in the dam , and , as the rush from the sluices subsided , his men quit work and climbed the bluff to the mess tent . The dwellings of the Midas , as has already been explained , sat back from the creek at a distance of a city block , the workings being thus partially hidden under the brow of the steep bank . It is customary to leave a watchman in the pit during the noon and midnight hours , not only to see that strangers preserve a neutral attitude , but also to watch the waste-gates and water supply . The night man of the Midas had been warned of his responsibility , and , knowing that much gold lay in his keeping , was disposed to gaze on the curious-minded with the sourness of suspicion . Therefore , as a man leading a pack-horse approached out of the gloom of the creek-trail , his eyes were on him from the moment he appeared . The road wound along the gravel of the bars and passed in proximity to the flumes .