one o'clock
I 'll be in late . The rest of the party will stay over at Pine Glen . '' Alone on the peak where he had sat with Sibyl the day of their last climb , Aaron King watched for the buzzards ' telltale , circling flight -- and tried not to think . It was one o'clock when the artist -- resting his eyes for a moment , after a long , searching look through the glass -- caught , again , that flash of light in the blue haze that lay over Fairlands in the distant valley . Brian Oakley had said , -- when they had seen it that first day of the search , -- that it was a common sight ; but the artist , his mind preoccupied , watched the point of light with momentary , idle interest . Suddenly , he awoke to the fact that there seemed to be a timed regularity in the flashes . Into his mind came the memory of something he had read of the heliograph , and of methods of signalling with mirrors Closely , now , he watched -- three flashes in quick succession -- pause -- two flashes -- pause -- one flash -- pause -- one flash -- pause -- two flashes -- pause -- three flashes -- pause .