They listened; evidently the distant shoutings were growing more distant! a moment or two more and they had gone altogether.

The heart-sinking misery of it! Tom whooped until he was hoarse, but it was of no use.

He talked hopefully to Becky; but an age of anxious waiting passed and no sounds came again.
The children groped their way back to the spring.

The weary time dragged on; they slept again, and awoke famished and woe-stricken.

Tom believed it must be Tuesday by this time.
Now an idea struck him.