noon
So the time went on . Disheartening as I knew that our progress , or want of progress , must be , I never deceived them as to my calculations of it . In the first place , I felt that we were all too near eternity for deceit ; in the second place , I knew that if I failed , or died , the man who followed me must have a knowledge of the true state of things to begin upon . When I told them at noon , what I reckoned we had made or lost , they generally received what I said in a tranquil and resigned manner , and always gratefully towards me . It was not unusual at any time of the day for some one to burst out weeping loudly without any new cause ; and , when the burst was over , to calm down a little better than before . I had seen exactly the same thing in a house of mourning . During the whole of this time , old Mr. Rarx had had his fits of calling out to me to throw the gold -LRB- always the gold ! -RRB-