noon
`` It 'll be rather fun , fellows , making him back down . '' There was an emphatic chorus of agreement , but little further discussion , for the question of lunch was beginning to be pressing . Though barely eleven , boxes and haversacks were produced and the next half-hour enlivened with one of the most satisfying of occupations . Toward noon they stopped at a small town for `` gas . '' When the car started on again , there was a pleasant sense of excitement in the realization that another couple of hours ought to bring them to Clam Cove . The country had changed greatly from that around Hillsgrove . It looked wilder , more unsettled .