noon on Thursday
Hilda had heard how Pete had dealt with Grady at their first meeting , and she could complete the broken sentence . Bannon never heard whether the agent from the carpenters ' union had looked further into Reilly 's case , but he was not asked to take him back on the pay roll . But that was not the end of the incident . Coming out on the distributing floor just before noon on Thursday , he found Grady in the act of delivering an impassioned oration to the group of laborers about the hoist . Before Grady saw him , Bannon had come near enough to hear something about being `` driven at the point of a pistol . '' The speech came suddenly to an end when Grady , following the glances of his auditors , turned and saw who was coming . Bannon noted with satisfaction the scared look of appeal which he turned , for a second , toward the men .