about noon
`` We can only hope so , '' sighed Mrs. Steiner , `` and when we reach the depot , you , Paul , can watch the freight cars , Franz can watch the passenger cars , and I will go first into the waiting-rooms to see if he is there . Then we can all watch the crowd upon the platform and see if Fritz is among them . '' This program was followed , but Fritz and his dog were not to be seen , and they could only hope that Mr. Heil would be more successful . `` But I will not see him until we get home , '' said Mrs. Steiner , `` so will send a telegram to Fritz 's mother , telling her that the boy set out for home about noon , and when he arrives there , she would please send me a telegram to that effect , as I am extremely anxious about him . '' No sooner thought of than done . She hurried into the office , gave her message to the operator who made quite a reduction in the number of words , thus lessening the expense , and then the three would have set out for home had not Paul made a study of the schedule and found that the train which Mr. Heil had gone to watch would not leave for fifteen minutes . `` Oh , I am glad of that ! ''