noon
At supper they would mention their footage for that day 's work , and Casey would hide a grin of derision . Casey knew rock as he knew bacon and beans and his sour-dough can . To make the footage they claimed to be making in that tunnel , they would need to shoot twice a day , with a round of , say , five holes to a shot . As a matter of fact , two holes a day , one shot at noon and one at night , were the most Casey ever heard fired in the tunnel or elsewhere about the mine . But he did not tell them any of the things he thought ; not even Joe , who had intelligence far above Paw and Hank , ever guessed that Casey listened every day for their shots and could tell , almost to an inch what progress they were actually making in the tunnel . Nor did he guess that Casey Ryan with his mouth shut was more unsafe than `` giant powder '' laid out in the sun until it sweated destruction . Persistent effort , directed by an idea based solely upon an abstract theory , must be driven by a trained intelligence .