In happy astonishment, Russli pressed closer to the carver so as to lose nothing of the process of this marvelous work. He knew the little reed pipes that broke so quickly, but he had never seen such a long, thick wooden pipe.
Vinzi had discovered much since he made his first pipe. Now he cut several small holes, for that way he could get several notes. But it took much time, for it was not easy to bore the little round holes, and Vinzi was very exact in his work. Several hours were spent on it, for between times Vinzi stopped to listen to the way the wind sang through the tall trees and to the murmur of the stream, sometimes one of joy, sometimes one of gentle complaint. Then too, he paused to breathe in the perfume of the violets. But at last he closed his knife and said, "There, Russli, take it; your pipe is ready."
With flashing eyes the happy boy put the pipe to his mouth and blew a high, piercing shriek. Russli himself was frightened at it.
Handing over the instrument to Vinzi, he said, "Now you play on it," but at that moment there resounded a shrill whistle and then another. Clearly it was a call.
"It is time to eat," explained Russli. "That's the way they always whistle when we are to gather for lunch. Come along!"
"A pipe! Look at my pipe!" he called out to his brothers as he drew near where they were already sitting on the grass eating. When Russli saw this, he looked searchingly around, then ran to where his lunch-bag lay, and quickly pulling out what was meant for him, held it out to Vinzi.
"Here, take it," said he. "This is yours; the others have already taken theirs."
As soon as Jos had finished eating, he called out from where he sat, "Here, Russli, give me the pipe, I want to try it."
"Come and get it then," said Russli drily.
Vinzi had jumped up to take it over to Jos, but evidently he had a feeling that if he wanted it, it was for him to fetch it, and he quickly came up, as did Faz also, who called out, "Show it to me too." But Jos was already holding it to his mouth and warded Faz off. Jos knew something about how the fingers had to be placed on the holes in order to produce different notes, and he succeeded, though they were very discordant and harsh.