noon
`` We can cook it and drive it off like steam . Lead melts at a low temperature , comparatively , about 600 degrees Fahrenheit , so that with our furnaces it will be a very easy matter to get a pure lead . '' During the rest of the day all were in the laboratory , superintending the preparation for the work , and at the Professor 's suggestion the boys took the team in the morning and brought in over a hundred pounds of galena to be treated . Before noon they had forty pounds of a very fine quality lead , and the work of making molds for the bullets was begun . The Professor , however , suggested that the boys should devote their time to the construction of the boat and guns , and it was difficult to decide what was the proper thing to do first . The Professor saw the dilemma and had a very earnest conference on the subject . `` You must not , by any means , be carried away with undue eagerness and a desire for haste .