nearly noon
The two chums separated , Ned to go downtown to the bank , while Tom hastened to the shed where he kept his speedy little air craft . Meanwhile Eradicate went on whitewashing the fence , pausing every now and then to chuckle at the memory of Andy Foger . Tom found that some minor adjustments had to be made to the motor , and they took him a couple of hours to complete . It was nearly noon when he finished , and leaving the sky racer in the open space in front of the shed , he went in the house to wash up , for his face and hands were begrimed with dirt and oil . `` But the machine 's in good shape , '' he said to the housekeeper when she objected to his appearance , `` and Ned and I will have a speedy spin this afternoon . '' `` Oh , you reckless boys ! Risking your lives in those aeroplanes ! ''