noon
`` If you 'd just as soon . And tell her to make a good job of it . I 've got to go out now , but I 'll be around off and on during the day . '' When the noon whistle blew Bannon and Max were standing near the annex . Already the bins and walls had been raised more than a foot above the foundation , which gave it the appearance of a great checker-board . `` Looks like business , does n't it , '' said Max . He was a little excited , for now there was to be no more delaying until the elevator should stand completed from the working floor to the top , one hundred and sixty feet above the ground ; until engines , conveyors , and scales should be working smoothly and every bin filled with grain .