twelve o'clock
Paul related such of his adventures as he had not before told , his companion listening with marked approval . `` I wish I 'd been there , '' he said . `` I 'd have given fifty cents , right out , to see how old Mudge looked , I calc ` late he 's pretty well tired with his wild-goose chase by this time . '' It was now twelve o'clock , and both the travelers began to feel the pangs of hunger . `` It 's about time to bait , I calc ` late , '' remarked the pedler . The unsophisticated reader is informed that the word `` bait , '' in New England phraseology , is applied to taking lunch or dining . At this point a green lane opened out of the public road , skirted on either side by a row of trees .