a quarter before eleven
I 'll be ready by that time . '' `` David , you are a brick when it comes to the in-fighting , '' said the general manager ; and then he finished buttoning his collar . At ten forty-eight on the Saturday morning Kent was standing with the general manager on the Union Station track platform beside the engine which was to make the flying run to Gaston . Nine hours of sharp work lay between the hurried conference in Loring 's bedroom and the drive to the station at a quarter before eleven . Boston had been wired ; divers and sundry friends of the railway company had been interviewed ; some few affidavits had been secured ; and now they were waiting to give Boston its last chance , with a clerk hanging over the operator in the station telegraph office to catch the first word of encouragement . `` If the Advisory Board does n't send us something pretty solid , I 'm going into this thing lame , '' said Kent , dubiously . `` Of course , what Boston can send us will be only corroborative ; unfortunately we ca n't wire affidavits .