Nine
o'clock
She had dinner prepared for cooking in the yard : sweet potatoes , hoe-cake , and buttermilk , and a hog to be barbecued . Everything was ready by eight o'clock in the morning . Emma and two other girl helpers were on the tip-toe of expectancy . Nine o'clock came and no one with it . Ten o'clock came , and eleven . High noon found Zora peering down the highway under her shading hand , but no soul in sight . She tried to think it out : what could have happened ?