nearly ten o'clock
As soon as the last of the grain was in , on the thirty-first , Max took a north-bound car and scoured South Chicago for a hall that was big enough . Before the afternoon was gone he had found it , and had arranged with a restaurant keeper to supply the dinner . Early the next morning the three set to work , making long tables and benches by resting planks on boxes , and covering the tables with pink and blue and white scalloped shelf-paper . It was nearly ten o'clock when Max , after draping a twenty-four-foot flag in a dozen different ways , let it slide down the ladder to the floor and sat down on the upper round , looking out over the gridiron of tables with a disgusted expression . Peterson , aided by a man from the restaurant , was bringing in load after load of thick white plates , stacking them waist high near the door . Max was on the point of calling to him , but he recollected that Pete 's eye , though quick with timbers , would not help much in questions of art . Just then Bannon came through the doorway with another flag rolled under his arm .