noon
He had wondered what stupidity possessed him to send Ginger in warning to a man like Hilmer . ... With almost psychic power he had created for himself the scene at the depot with Ginger pouring her tremulous message into contemptuous ears . For it was certain that Hilmer had been contemptuous . ... Afterward , standing before the north gate of Hilmer 's shipyards , a man at his side confirmed his intuitions between irritating puffs from a blackened pipe : `` Nobody can double-cross Hilmer ... and they 'd better give up trying ... He said a launching at noon and it _ was _ at noon , you can bet your life on that ! ... They say a woman tried to scare the old man this morning ... He just laughed in her face and came on over . '' Almost as the man had finished speaking the crowd surged forward . And in a twinkling Hilmer 's machine had swept past , leaving Fred , trembling from head to foot , staring stupidly into a cloud of dust ... He had not even glimpsed the occupants !