three o'clock
Already that little town on the edge of the State called Kansas City because it was in Missouri , had boomed itself into a city and , being just outside the cyclone belt , had not been blown away . In spite of the fact that it had been set high on a hill it had not been blown away . The Wise Men had built that town . Also , there was another town they had built within the belt which promised to thrive , a town where the people had so arranged it that the coming of a cyclone could be telegraphed to them , where signs like this were posted , `` A cyclone due at three o'clock , '' and they had ample time to shut up shop and school and prepare for it , going down into their cyclone cellars , shutting fast the doors and staying there until it was over . True , a cyclone or two had grazed this town . One had even taken off a wing . But , though a trifle disabled by each , it had continued to thrive , showing such evident and robust signs of life and strength that the cyclones , presently giving up in despair of making a wreck of it , had gone on by as Seth has said they would do once they found their master .