six o'clock
For a moment the silence was profound , unbroken . Then , faint and prolonged , across the levels of the ranch , he heard the engine whistling for Bonneville . Again and again , at rapid intervals in its flying course , it whistled for road crossings , for sharp curves , for trestles ; ominous notes , hoarse , bellowing , ringing with the accents of menace and defiance ; and abruptly Presley saw again , in his imagination , the galloping monster , the terror of steel and steam , with its single eye , cyclopean , red , shooting from horizon to horizon ; but saw it now as the symbol of a vast power , huge , terrible , flinging the echo of its thunder over all the reaches of the valley , leaving blood and destruction in its path ; the leviathan , with tentacles of steel clutching into the soil , the soulless Force , the iron-hearted Power , the monster , the Colossus , the Octopus . On the following morning , Harran Derrick was up and about by a little after six o'clock , and a quarter of an hour later had breakfast in the kitchen of the ranch house , preferring not to wait until the Chinese cook laid the table in the regular dining-room . He scented a hard day 's work ahead of him , and was anxious to be at it betimes . He was practically the manager of Los Muertos , and , with the aid of his foreman and three division superintendents , carried forward nearly the entire direction of the ranch , occupying himself with the details of his father 's plans , executing his orders , signing contracts , paying bills , and keeping the books . For the last three weeks little had been done .