an hour before
noon
Without the slightest notice of Lance , he inflicted his protesting and querulous presence entirely on his daughter . `` Well ! what 's up now ? Yer ye are calling me from work an hour before noon . Dog my skin , ef I ever get fairly limbered up afore it 's ` Dad ! ' and ` Oh , Dad ! ' '' To Lance 's intense satisfaction the girl received this harangue with an air of supreme indifference , and when `` Dad '' had relapsed into an unintelligible , and , as it seemed to Lance , a half-frightened muttering , she said coolly , -- `` Ye 'd better drop that axe and scoot round getten ' this stranger some breakfast and some grub to take with him .