“I must have, unless it was the whistle that scared him.”
With feelings of deep disappointment, the boys watched the man run, or walk rapidly, along the road until he disappeared through the pass. Meanwhile the work of making more whistle-arrows continued, and several were sent screaming down toward two other teams that had appeared in view. Evidently, the attention of the occupants of these carriages was attracted by the strange sound in the air, but none of the note-bearing shafts were discovered by them.
For several hours the boys continued at the work, and more than a score of arrows were sent flying down toward passing vehicles. Meanwhile, they had become very hungry and thirsty and some of them visited the pool of water, but it was stale and brackish and they could not drink it.
By the middle of the afternoon all were thoroughly disheartened, although they continued in their attempts to attract the attention of passers on the road below.
Finally a new element of expectancy was introduced when Fes called attention to a strange looking object in the air two miles to the north. He was very excited when he beheld it, and exclaimed:
“Look! Look! Off there! What’s that?”
All looked eagerly. They were in a mood to hope for help from any improbable source.
For several minutes they gazed silently at the moving object, at first believing it to be a huge bird. Finally Hal electrified his companions by announcing wildly:
“It’s Mr. Miles in his new airship!”