noon
He 's doing everything he can think of , and I told you at the jump that the man has brains . '' As well as a man could understand it without actually going over the ground , Conniston learned that afternoon all that Bat Truxton 's assistant could tell him . He learned , roughly , of course , how much had been done already , what remained to be done first , what could be allowed to wait until more men came to swell the forces now at work , what chief natural difficulties and obstacles lay across the path of the great venture . Little Tommy Garton 's enthusiasm was so keen a thing , so spontaneous , so whole-souled , that long before time came for the noon meal Conniston felt his own blood pounding and clamoring for action . Swiftly he was granted the first true glimpse which had ever come to him of the real nature of work . Such work as he was now about to engage in was so infused with the elements of hazard , of risk , of uncertainty , of opposition , that it was shot through with a deep , stern fascination . It was not drudgery , and almost until now he had looked upon all work as that .