noon
`` Well , '' said Fred , laughingly , `` suppose you jump around a little , and dry off before you go home , Billy . And neither of us will let on what happened . I 'll get the canoe down to your house in some fashion , though I hope Buck will be away this morning . '' `` He 's gone off with some of the fellers to Grafton , to look at somethin' they want to buy , '' the small chap continued ; `` and he wo n't be back till noon . That 's just why I thought I 'd help get his boat down the river . You see Bob 's with him , I guess . '' So after they had seen Billy scamper away , keeping in the warm sun so as to get his clothes dried , and avoiding the road so that he might not meet inquisitive people who would wonder how he came to be so wet , Fred and Bristles together entered the canoe , the latter having recovered his shoes and coat .