noon
Then he said , `` Oh , well ; it 's as broad as it is long , '' and signed . The leave-takings were brief , and somewhat constrained , save those of the genial Major . Tom pleaded business , further business , with his attorney , when the Major would have had him wait to tell the ladies good-by ; hence he saw no more of the tourists after the conference broke up . Not to lose time , Tom took a noon train back to Boston , first wiring his father to try and keep things in _ statu quo _ at Gordonia for another week at all hazards . Winning back to the technical school , he plunged once more into the examination whirlpool , doing his best to forget Chiawassee Consolidated and its mortal sickness for the time being , and succeeding so well that he passed with colors flying . But the school task done , he turned down the old leaf , pasting it firmly in place . Telegraphing his father to meet him , on the morning of the third day following , at the station in South Tredegar , he allowed himself a few hours for a run up the North Shore and a conference with the Michigan iron king ; after which he turned his face southward and was soon speeding to the battle-field through a land by this time shaking to its industrial foundations in the throes of the panic earthquake .