noon before
`` That 's Mac all over . He hires a fellow to run his car -- brings him up here from Seattle -- and then takes the wheel himself every time he rides . I do n't somehow see Mac sitting back and letting another man run the machine . '' It was close to noon before the river boat turned a bend and steamed up to the wharf at Kusiak . The place was an undistinguished little log town that rambled back from the river up the hill in a hit-or-miss fashion . Its main street ran a tortuous course parallel to the stream . Half of the town , it seemed , was down to meet the boat .