On they went, tracing a zigzag course through the trees and across the lower slopes of the mountains around Castelalto, always keeping the village in sight, for the last thing Carter wanted was for one or all of them to get lost. Now and then they would pause and call out Giorgio’s name, hoping for a response, but none ever came. It was a tedious march, and Carter made frequent stops to let his companions rest. Given that neither of the two had thought to bring food or water for the journey, he was obliged to share his own. Carter had packed more than enough to get himself through the day, but had not planned on having to divide his food and water three ways. Come early afternoon, he ran out of both, and the three had no choice but to head back to the village.

By the time they reached home, Nunzio and Michele were dejected and worn down. For his part, Carter was ready after a few minutes’ rest to refill his water bottle and head back out. No word about Giorgio had yet come from up on the mountain, and he was eager to resume the search, with or without Nunzio and Michele. Antonella, however, prevailed on him to wait. It would not be long, she pointed out, before they began to lose the daylight and the men started to return. Decisions would have to be made then, and she did not want to have to worry about Carter being off in the wilderness, wandering around by himself.

As Antonella predicted, a few hours later, with the sun quickly dropping below the horizon, the men began to trickle back through the shadows into the village. Exhausted and dispirited, they gathered outside the house to let her know that they had searched everywhere but had found no sign of Giorgio. It had been for them a long, frustrating, disheartening day.

“We looked everywhere up there near the landslide, but nothing,” lamented Domenico, who had taken part in the search. “We haven’t given up, and we will try again tomorrow, but we have no idea where Giorgio could have gone to, or where we should search first. Maybe he went off in some other direction. We just don’t know, but we will try, we promise!”