noon
`` Ca n't stop , '' said Scattergood . `` I was lookin ' for Jed . '' `` Jed 's gone , '' she replied , shortly , the sullen expression returning to her face . '' ` He wo n't be back ` fore noon . '' `` Uh-huh ! ... Wa-al , I calc ` late I kin keep on drawin ' my breath till then -- if you kin . I call to mind the time when you was all-fired oneasy if Jed got away from you for six hours in a stretch . ''