Dick and Tony hurried inside, where they found Slade bending over the still prostrate figure of their lieutenant. Dick bent down beside him, and looked at Slade with questioning eyes.
“Don’t know,” the man shrugged. “He seems to see me, but there may be a little paralysis somewhere. He can’t talk so that I can understand him, but his eyes seem clear. It’s encouraging, anyway.”
The light of a pocket flash gave Dick a chance to look into Scotti’s face. The man’s eyes opened slowly and he peered up. Dick flashed the light strongly on his own face so that Scotti could see him clearly.
“Jerry,” he said. “Jerry, it’s Dick.”
Scotti’s eyes looked straight and clear at his. Then his mouth opened a little and some sounds came out, but they meant nothing to Dick. Yet the look in the eyes showed Dick that the lieutenant recognized him, knew who he was. He felt sure that the wounded man could understand and hear everything, even if he could not speak.
“Jerry,” he said, “you banged your head on a rock when you landed. You’ve been unconscious a long time. But everything is all right. The rest of us are together. We’re in a good cave in the side of the hill. Everything is safe. Tony and I have been to Maletta. Tony’s uncle is there, glad to help us. We’ll set up the radio tomorrow night in town.”
Dick saw the eyelids flicker up and down. It seemed to him that meant the lieutenant understood what had been said to him. Maybe he was just hoping that was the case, but somehow, Dick felt more as if the lieutenant were with them again.
“That’s all for now,” he said quietly. “You must rest more. For some reason you can’t talk yet. Probably some pressure from the bang on the head. If you rest you’ll be better tomorrow.”
Once more the eyes flickered up and down as if the man were nodding his head. Dick turned out the light and went outside, followed by Boom-Boom Slade. There he told the others what he had said to the lieutenant.
“Somehow I think he got what I said,” he explained. “Could that be possible, Slade?”