noon
`` We 'll give him plenty of time , because we do n't want to meet him until he 's half-way back . I knew he 'd bite at that registered parcel . '' Amy chuckled . `` He could n't even wait until noon ! '' Fifteen minutes later Harmon Dreer , returning from the post office , spied ahead of him , loitering in the direction of the Academy , two boys of whom one looked at the distance of a block away very much like the obnoxious Byrd . For choice , Dreer would have avoided Amy on general principles , but in this case he had no chance , for , unless he climbed a fence and took to the fields , there was no way for him to reach school without proceeding along the present road . Neither was it advisable to dawdle , for he had Greek at ten o'clock , it was now twelve minutes of and `` Uncle Sim '' had scant patience with tardy students .