The atmosphere was so pure that the smallest object could be seen and described. George and Arthur could hardly believe that ten hours would elapse, and that they would be obliged to spend another night in camp, before they could take a nearer view of the valley.
“How are we going to get down there?” asked the former. “I hope you don’t intend to lower us over these cliffs with a rope?”
“Oh, no! There’s a road that leads to the bottom, but it is a long and winding one. The building of it was equal to all the labors of Hercules, and I have been told that he had some pretty difficult tasks to perform.”
Arthur, who had never heard of Hercules before, would have been glad to know who he was and what he had to do, but he was ashamed to ask for information.
His companions, who seemed to know a little of everything, had more than once put him to the blush, and, rather than let them see how ignorant he was, he maintained a discreet silence.
“My father laid it off,” continued Bob, with some pride in his tones, “and not one of all the college professors who have been here has been able to make any improvement in it. Hark!” he added, a moment later, raising his forefinger in the air and turning his head to one side. “Now you are going to hear it.”
There was something in Bob’s tone and manner that affected his companions rather unpleasantly, awed as they were by the grandeur and sublimity of their surroundings.
They listened intently, and all they could hear was the sighing of the mountain breeze through the branches of the evergreens that lined the trail on both sides; but presently there came floating on that same breeze a sound that cannot be described—a sound that seemed to chill the blood of the two boys, who now listened to it for the first time.
It was faint, yet it could be distinctly heard. Like the noise that sometimes accompanies an earthquake, it seemed to come from no particular direction, but filled the air all around them. It continued for a few seconds, growing neither louder nor fainter, and then suddenly ceased.
Arthur and George drew a long breath, and looked at their companion with eyes that were full of curiosity and alarm.