one o'clock
For the rest of the morning Dick & Co. were much more thoughtful than usual . They had met defeat -- a thing they did n't relish . Yet they knew , in advance , how much worse they would feel if they met a defeat when officially entered as a Gridley High School crew -- for the honor of their school was dear to them all . The noonday meal was over before one o'clock . Dick would not allow the `` Scalp-hunter '' to be put in the water a minute before two . He wanted to be sure that digestion had proceeded far enough so that they might do their best . At the time appointed , however , he took the crew out on the water , and there carefully explained what he thought he had learned of the better paddling style of the Preston High School boys .