About noon
Both boys set to work with a will . It was to them the beginning of life ; they felt that , and were the more anxious to do well in consequence . Remembering the farmer 's caution , they did not hurry , but Tim built a cone of stones with the care and artistic exactitude of an architect , while Bobby piled his billets of wood with as much regard to symmetrical proportion as was possible in the circumstances . About noon they became hungry , but hunger was an old foe whom they had been well trained to defy , so they worked on utterly regardless of him . Thereafter a welcome sound was heard -- the dinner-bell ! Having been told to come in on hearing it , they left work at once , ran to the pump , washed themselves , and appeared in the dining-room looking hot , but bright and jovial , for nothing brightens the human countenance so much , -LRB- by gladdening the heart -RRB- , as the consciousness of having performed duty well . From the first this worthy couple , who were childless , received the boys into their home as sons , and on all occasions treated them as such .