noon
Oh , I could -- '' `` That brainless Skeet Wigglesworth ! '' ejaculated T. Haviland Hicks , Jr. , who , arrayed like a lily of the field , reposed his splinter-structure on the bench with his comrades . `` In some way , he managed to _ miss _ that train from Baltimore ! They did n't come on the noon C , N. & Q. train , and there is n't another one until night . My directions were as plain as a German war-map , and it beats me how Skeet got befuddled ! '' Gloom , as thick and abysmal as a London fog , hovered over the Bannister dug-out . On the concrete bench , the seven Gold and Green athletes , Beef , Monty , Roddy , Biff , Ichabod , Don , and Cherub , with Team Manager T. Haviland Hicks , Jr. , stared silently at Captain Butch Brewster , who seemed in imminent peril of exploding .