fifteen minutes before noon
`` Of course it 'll take a few days of patient study of the game to enable you to make big catches , '' was Dick 's consoling assurance . `` I 'd put in all summer , if I were sure I could master the trick in the end , '' said Dave . Greg said nothing , but felt less resolute about it than Darrin did . `` Why , it 's only fifteen minutes before noon , '' cried Dave , glancing at his watch . `` Then it 's high time to be going back , '' nodded Dick , `` in case the fellows are depending upon us for their meal . If Tom has a lot of bass , though , we can store these trout in our new ice box -- the cave . '' `` And let the Man with the Haunting Face slip in there , after dark , and help himself ! ''