Their throats grew parched and their tongues swelled till they were painful, and they could shout for aid no longer. For all the attention the negroes below paid to their cries, they might as well have remained silent. The blacks seemed to consider the removal of the hemp to a safe place of far more importance than the lives of the flame-marooned white men.
Just when Jack’s hope had flickered out and a sort of coma of despair was creeping over him the miracle happened.
It was Professor Chadwick who saw it first.
Through the red glow that crimsoned the sky came a huge floating form.
The Professor shouted and pointed upward. Jack raised a pair of dimmed eyes; but the next instant they cleared as if by magic.
“It’s the Flying Road Racer!” he shouted, yelling like a madman. “Hurray! We’re saved! we’re saved!”
And then something in his head seemed to snap with a loud report. He swayed, and would have fallen heavily on the hot roof if his father had not caught him in his arms.
Then he was startled into alertness again by a sharp hail which came from above them.
“Stand by for a rope. We’ll drop as low as we dare!”